Kaiser & Partners, an Earnscliffe Strategies Company, has released its fourth annual survey on trust and credibility in news sources and, for the fourth year, found that established news media are still the most trusted sources of information for Canadians. Over half (56%) of respondents in Canada say their consumption of news content has changed over the past year. The changes include an increase in accessing online news from established news sources (25%) and watching more broadcast TV news (20%), particularly among Gen Z and Boomer respondents.

Almost half (45%) of Gen Z respondents say established news media are the most credible sources compared to nearly a quarter (22%) of Gen Z who found information from experts on social media to be the most credible. Although younger Canadians continue to go to online platforms for news, they do appreciate credible, fact-checked journalism. That said, there has been some erosion of trust due to factors that include political or celebrity influencers on the news (33%), paid/advertorial content (31%), and algorithm-fed newsfeeds (31%).

About a third of respondents in Canada pointed to three main causes of trust erosion: political or celebrity content in the news (33%), the prevalence of paid or advertorial content from organizations (31%), and algorithms that tailor news feeds (31%). The generations with higher reported rates of social media usage – Gen Z and Millennials – are more likely to say that having algorithms influencing results on their feeds (35% each) is causing them to trust media less.

With social media increasing as a main news source, the majority of respondents (84%) are fact checking what they see on social platforms. When fact checking, they look for corroborating articles (32%), verify the original source (23%), or evaluate the sharer’s credibility (20%). Boomers are most likely to say they would ignore information if it seemed fake (22%) or that they do not fact check news on social media at all (14%). Gen Z are more likely to cross-reference information through other social media sources (15%) or by speaking to friends or family (18%).

Since Bill C-18, the Online News Act, nearly one in five Canadians have increased their reliance on traditional media for Canadian news, with Boomers (25%) leading this trend. Gen Z respondents are turning to alternative platforms like Reddit and TikTok.

The survey, conducted by Earnscliffe Strategies’ opinion research team, was in field from November 28 to December 1, 2024, and engaged a representative stratified sample of 2,018 respondents living in Canada (with an effective national sample size of 1,875) who are members of Leger’s LEO panel.