The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle is perceived as the most reliable source of news in Finland, according to the results of the latest Uutisarvostukset 2021 (News Evaluations) survey, published on Tuesday.
The research found that 83 percent of respondents trusted Yle's news output, with the next most trusted sources being Helsingin Sanomat (70 percent) and news agency STT (also on 70 percent). Regional newspapers enjoyed the trust of about 60 percent of respondents, while 54 percent said they trusted commercial broadcaster MTV.
Evening, or tabloid, newspapers did not score highly by comparison, as the latest survey found their news content was trusted by about 25 percent of respondents.
Overall, the rankings and percentages were broadly the same as last year.
The Uutisarvostukset 2021 survey is a follow-up study commissioned by Yle's News and Current Affairs unit, which examines the relationship between people living in Finland and domestic news outlets.
Some 1,147 people responded to the survey, which was conducted by IROResearch. The target group was Finnish-speakers over the age of 15 years old, with the exception of people living in Åland.
The data was collected via an online questionnaire during November last year, and the margin of error is a maximum of 2.9 percentage points in either direction.
Men aged 30-44 more critical of news
Although the survey found that Yle was the most trusted news media outlet in Finland last year, the level of trust has dipped from the previous research period. In 2020, 86 percent of respondents said they trusted Yle's news output, which is a drop of 3 percentage points.
This decline in trust was particularly apparent among the 30- to 44-year-old demographic, and especially among men in this age group. This group was found in general to be more critical of all news media.
"In times of crisis, as now in the context of the war in Ukraine, the importance of news outlets is emphasised. There is a diverse debate around Yle, but overall appreciation by the general public has been maintained," the Editor-in-Chief of Yle's News and Current Affairs unit, Jouko Jokinen, said in a press release announcing the survey results.
