The majority of French people consider themselves interested in the news broadcast by the media, whereas less than ten percent claim to not be interested at all. That level of interest remained stagnant over the 15 past years, despite some slight fluctuations. General television channels were the primary source of information for many French consumers, most notably in order to deepen their knowledge of international or regional news, while websites or mobile applications of print media titles came in first for digital sources.
According to the French population, regional and national newspapers were the most trustworthy media, followed closely by the radio channel France Info and the TV channel France Télévisions News. While the level of trust in newspapers fluctuates, around half of respondents stated that events usually happen as the press reports them. Indeed, neutral sources were the most sought-after sources, while only a minority of French people wanted to get news from a partial source, which either shared their point of view or challenged it. Still, French people are also highly suspicious of journalists, and do not consider them completely independent, seeing them as victims of external pressure from politics, power, and money.
The multiplication of fake news, most notably on social media, is one of the reasons the French population tends to trust digital sources less. Only very few respondents were adamant that they had never been fooled by fake news, while a great majority of internet users spotted them regularly.
