Croatians consider television and radio as the most trustful sources of information, and their trust in information on social networks is higher than the EU average, a Eurobarometer survey shows.

The survey examined media habits, trust in different media sources, and attitudes towards disinformation, the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media says in a presentation of the Eurobarometer findings on its website.

Media outlets play a major role in informing citizens about the European Union’s activities and its institutions. This survey shows that 72% of respondents say that they have recently read, seen or heard something about the European Union and 57% about the European Parliament.

In Croatia, 86% of respondents have read something about the EU, and 73% about the European Parliament.

In the EU, television dominates as the primary news source (75%), and this is particularly true for older generations. In Croatia too, 75% of respondents cited television as their primary source of information.

Overall, public TV and radio stations are the most trusted news source in the EU (49%), followed by written press (39%) and private TV and radio stations (27%).

In Croatia, public TV and radio stations are the most trusted news source for 39% of those polled, while written press is cited by 26%, and private TV and radio stations by 23%.

Interestingly, 19% of those polled in Croatia trust information on social networks, as against 14% in the whole of the EU.

As many as 12% of respondents in the EU and in Croatia feel “very confident” that they can recognise disinformation and fake news, and 52% in the EU and 56% in Croatia feel “somewhat confident”. The level of confidence in distinguishing between real news and fake news decreases with age and increases with level of education.

Ipsos European Public Affairs interviewed a representative sample of EU citizens, aged 15 years and over, in each of the 27 Member States of the European Union. Between 26 April and 11 May 2022, 53 347 interviews were completed via computer-assisted web interviewing, using Ipsos online panels and their partner network, the European Parliament said on its website.

The EU results are weighted according to the size of the population in each country.