Fake news continues to be a major concern for 64% news consumers in India: Ormax Media report

• Ormax Media launches ‘Fact or Fake?’ study's third edition.
• As per the report, print continues to enjoy higher news credibility than all other media.

Media consulting firm Ormax Media today announced the launch of the third round of its report titled ‘Fact Or Fake?’ The report measures the credibility of various news media, as well as the perception around ‘fake news’, through a survey of 2,000 news consumers across 15 states in India. The first edition of the report was released in September 2020, followed by the second edition in April 2021.

According to the third edition, 64% Indian news consumers see fake news as a major concern. The News Credibility Index is unchanged since last track (65%), highlighting that fake news continues to be a huge concern amongst Indian news consumers.

Print media continues to lead, with a Credibility Index of 62%, followed by Television (55%) and Radio (54%). Traditional media have higher news credibility than digital media, though most digital media have seen a marginal improvement in their credibility in this track.

Twitter continues to remain the most credible digital medium for news, albeit with a drop in its Credibility Index over time: 57% (Sep 2020) to 47% (Apr 2021) to 42% (Dec 2021).

Commenting on the findings of the report, Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO - Ormax Media said: “Fake news, and lack of news credibility in general, continues to be a growing concern globally. Almost 2 out of 3 Indians see fake news as a problem, and that should be a major cause of worry for all news companies. We launched this report in 2020 to enable more informed conversations on this topic. In the subsequent editions, we plan to study these indices by languages, to understand if there’s a difference in news credibility between Hindi, English and other major Indian languages”.