The Irish media trust index is in the top ten in the world, but the main local news source is not from Internet !

The Reuters Digital News report found that 36% of Irish people surveyed believe that journalism is "extremely important" to a well-functioning society, and two-thirds of Irish people believe that independent journalism is very important to a well-functioning society. 

The study also found that Irish people seem to have a closer relationship with local news than anywhere else in the world, with local newspapers being the most used local news source, followed by local radio stations.

Social media has increasingly become the main news source for young people aged 18-24, growing from 43% in 2019 to 46% in 2020. Among people aged 25-44, digital news media is the main source, while television is the main source for people over 55.

Although television is still the main source of news overall (33%), radio stations (13%) continue to play a certain role in the dissemination of news in Ireland. Compared with their counterparts in the United Kingdom (10%), North America (6%) and the European Union (8%), more Irish people use broadcast media as their main news source. The survey found that the number of radio listening in Ireland has increased, increasing by three percentage points over last year, reaching 40%.

In Ireland’s television, radio and Internet media, RTÉNews has the highest weekly reading rate of 61%, which is almost twice that of competitor Sky News (31%). In terms of online media, RTÉNews is still the most popular media.

Although the international trust in news is declining, the trust of Irish people in the Irish media has remained stable over the past year. Nearly half (48%) agree that they can trust most news most of the time. RTÉ is still the most trusted news brand with a score of 76%. From a global perspective (countries and regions), the trustworthiness of Irish media ranks among the top ten in the world.