Views and Attitudes Towards Journalists and the Media

The majority of the public (74%) does not trust journalists in Greece: specifically, 44% say they have little trust in them and 30% say they do not trust them at all. A fair amount of trust is shown by 21%, while only 4.5% say they trust journalists “very much” or “completely”. Especially among younger people, the rate of distrust rises to 79% in the 17-34 age group and 76.5% for those aged between 35 and 54. When the analysis also takes into account the political self-positioning of the sample on the Left-Right political spectrum, it emerges that the vast majority of those who place themselves on the Left (85.5%) do not trust journalists in our country. The rates of distrust are also very high among those who position themselves on the Center-Left (79.5%) and the Center (71%), as well as among those who say that they are not politically represented by the Left-Right spectrum (78%). The percentage of those who say that they have little or no trust in journalists and are politically represented by the Center-Right and the Right is reduced to 55% and 62% respectively.

As it emerges from the responses of participants to a series of questions about their opinion on individual characteristics of journalists in our country, the public believes that, although well qualified (65%), journalists “attempt to manipulate people” (85%), “are censored by their superiors” (83.5%), “are corrupt” (63.5%) and untrustworthy (63.5%). When asked if journalists are well paid, one in two participants (54%) respond positively and 27.5% respond negatively –the “don’t know/no answer” option receives 18.5% of the answers.