New study shows that distrust of mainstream media, other organizations, growing among general public

The following article reports on the result of surveys conducted between October 19 to November 18, 2020, which are part of the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer. The online survey included 33,000 respondents from 28 countries. It aims to measure the trust levels in communities in relation to four institutions: government, NGOs, business, and media.

For 2021, the biggest loser of trust is government. Results show that in 18 out of 27 countries surveyed, businesses were more trusted than governments. Surveys also showed that the pandemic has brought growing distrust among societal leaders, with journalists experiencing the largest drop in trust capital (-5 points).

On page 24 of the report, we will see that the trust in all sources of information has clearly dropped. Trust rating for traditional media has experienced the largest loss (-8), followed by search engines (-6). Owned media and social media ties in third place, with a drop of 5 points. On page 25 of the report, 61% of all respondents feel that media is “not doing well at being objective and non-partisan”. Meanwhile, 59% of respondents feel that “journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations”. Also, 59% of the respondents think that “most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position than with informing the public”.

Editor’s Note: The massive Big Tech censorship and confusing government policy concerning COVID-19 have brought us to a position of increasing distrust of societal leaders. This could be both a bad and a good thing. On one hand, this has prodded people to look directly at the primary source of information in order to determine their veracity. On the other hand, those who have made no effort to make their own research tend to adhere to one position and refuse to acknowledge the other. It has led to lengthy debates in social media, and animosity between friends and relatives. Distrust, if allowed to flourish unchecked, could fracture our societies.

An increasing number of people are realizing that the main strategy of the ones orchestrating this chaos is to divide and conquer. As long as people are confused and angry, they will become enemies with each other, and the “orchestrators” will win. For us, who are working towards educating people of the truth behind the coronapanic, it is important to keep this in mind. Our fellow citizens, despite our differences in opinion, are not our enemy. We are all victims of the largest psych-ops the world has ever seen so far [see COVID has paved the way for bio-warfare and weaponization of medicine and Fear appeal: The science of using fear to manipulate people into submission].

We cannot fight fear with anger, but facts, spoken with honesty, may help [see Facts, not fear, will end the pandemic]. The decision to awaken is personal, as it requires one to look at, and accept the difficult truth [see END THE LOCKDOWNS! Stop It Outside By Ending the Lockdowns Inside Us and Nicanor Perlas: It will take an extra level of courage to end this “pandemic”]. It will take longer for some, but we must hope that the truth will always prevail.

We have a huge challenge ahead of us as we attempt to free our societies from fear. Let us extend our patience and compassion for those who are still struggling to find the truth we have found for ourselves. We are, after all, fighting for freedom and human dignity. In this struggle, we must ensure that we honor both at all times.

[And to those who are looking for more concrete ways on how you can help shape the fight for freedom and human dignity, we hope to see you at FROM FEAR TO HOPE: A Workshop On Flourishing In The Age Of Pandemics happening on May 7-9, 2021. Please check out the article for details].