The level of trust in the media has declined over the last two years, the State of Kenya’s Media in 2022 survey shows.
The survey, which was commissioned by the Media Council of Kenya and conducted by Infotrak Research and Consulting Ltd, said 10 per cent of respondents did not have trust at all in the media last year.
The figure was six per cent in 2021 and three per cent in 2020.
The survey noted that trust in the media was highest for television (33 per cent) followed by radio at 32 per cent.
“The survey established that approximately seven in every ten surveyed respondents (69 per cent) either have some trust or a lot of trust in the media,” the report of the study said.
Interviews were conducted using a hybrid approach utilising both Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews and Computer Assisted Personal Interviews.
The survey covered all 47 counties in the 8 regions, to ensure the survey findings were representative of Kenyans, 15 years and above.
Rift Valley region took the highest sample with the Northeastern region taking the least sample.
The survey had a target survey sample size of 3,331 respondents.
It study added that 26 per cent of respondents indicated that their trusted media organisation reported important issues whereas 16 per cent cited that they reported local news/news about local people.
“Further, 14 per cent of the respondents indicated that they trust the media organisation they rely on since they are well known in terms of reporting news for long whereas 12 per cent highlighted that their trust was triggered by the presence of breaking/current news,” the report said.
Several reasons were given for trusting the media among them reporting on important issues and local people, providing breaking news, consistency and knowledgeable reporters.