According to a study, a large majority of young people in Germany do not trust the media. 75.8 percent mistrust newspapers, 71.6 percent mistrust journalists. More than a third of young people suspect that the media intentionally withholds important information (37.9 percent) and only spreads their own opinion (32.8 percent).
Study leader Prof. Holger Ziegler described these results on Tuesday as “alarming”. A healthy skepticism is definitely helpful, but this is about something else: “If we not only question the truthfulness of information, but if we suspect that – in this case – the media want to deliberately withhold information and manipulate it, then we move us in a dangerous realm of conspiracy beliefs.”
For the study, which was carried out by the University of Bielefeld on behalf of the Bepanthen child support, 1582 children (6 to 11 years) and young people (12 to 16 years) were interviewed. The study is representative within the urban section of the population considered, said Ziegler.
Families in the cities of Berlin, Leipzig, Cologne, Deggendorf, Herne, Neunkirchen/Saar, Reutlingen, Stralsund, Bitburg and Aurich were surveyed.
