Digital News Report: Romanians, interested in discerning between fake and true news

Most Romanians are interested in discerning between fake and true news online, says Raluca Radu, PhD, manager of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences of the University of Bucharest, coordinator of the European Media Monitor in Romania and rapporteur for Romania of the Digital News Report (DNR) 2018.

"What's interesting in Romania's case is that, according to this survey, approximately 60% of the Romanians show interest in discerning between the fake and true news online and that many identify this issue of fake news as a figure of speech politicians use against enemy newsrooms more than it happens in other countries, with more than 40% of the Romanians having heard about a similar matter a week before being interviewed and almost 40% of them saying they came upon a fake news a week before being interviewed," Raluca Radu told AGERPRES, after presenting on Monday at the University of Bucharest the results of the Digital News Report for 2018.

According to Raluca Radu, the growing interest in checking more than one source when getting the information is also due to the rise in the past year of the number of people who have access to the Internet. "Internet coverage is very strong in Romania, stronger than in the other countries; 10 per cent of those who didn't have access to the Internet last year now have, and of course that this makes them want to check the news on the Internet from several sources," she said.

Moreover, the recent political developments kept the Romanians' interest in the news alive, with the common user simultaneously using 6-10 different sources for the same news to get the information it needs.

"The interesting thing is that the political scene, which was very turbulent, maintained the interest for news and opinions among the online audience at very high levels, and people searched for those newsrooms they trusted more and continued to follow them, no matter if they were television, radio, print, or online sources. Very many people are getting their news from several sources at the same time, which proves that the discussion about the fake and true news and about the fact that in some situations they could find out an information that serves a political or an economic interest bears fruit and people start to pay attention to what news they consume," believes Raluca Radu.

According to "Digital News Report", Facebook (69 per cent) remains the main information source for the news in Romania, followed by YouTube (31 per cent) and WhatsApp (18 per cent).

The report also shows that 88 per cent of the subjects to the poll get their information online, including from social media, 82 per cent get it from television, 67 per cent from social media, 42 per cent from radio, 18 per cent from print and 16 per cent from the blogs.

In respect to trust, 42 per cent of the Romanians trust news in general, 48 per cent trust the news that they use, 54 per cent trust the news from searches and 32 per cent the news from social media.

The poll shows that, in a ranking of Romanian's favourite environments, among the television, radio and print sources, Pro TV private television channel is the leader (66 per cent), followed by Digi 24 (43 per cent) and Antena 1 (41 per cent), while the top spot online is claimed by Pro Tv News online (29 per cent), followed by Yahoo News (28 per cent) and Ziare.com and Digi24 online, each with 8 per cent.

With this being its 7th edition, Digital News Report, conducted under the coordination of the Reuters Institute for Media from the Oxford University is the most significant such survey in the world, at this point, concerning the changing environment around news. This year, the survey analyzed 74,000 questionnaires from 37 countries in Europe, North America, South America and Asia-Pacific area.

In Romania, the sample included 2,048 persons who have access to the Internet, with the survey carried our in January-February 2018 and an error margin of plus/minus 2.17 per cent. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, Adina Panaitescu)