SINGAPORE - More people are relying on news organisation, who are deemed to be more trustworthy, for information about the coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, rather than social media.

A survey conducted by Reuters Institute in six countries showed a "trust gap" between the two of about 33 percentage points on average.

But the authors of the survey also highlighted the fact that "large minorities" still do not take information on the outbreak seriously enough.

The findings in the survey, which was released Wednesday (April 15), reflect growing trust in the work of mainstream media organisations amid the pandemic although it also showed that young people were more likely to rely on social media or messaging application groups for information.

The online survey of some 8,000 people was conducted in late March and early April in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Spain and Argentina. Respondents had to rate different sources of news and information about the coronavirus, who they trusted and how much knew about Covid-19.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is dedicated to exploring the future of journalism through debate, engagement, and research and is an integral part of the University of Oxford.

The report on the survey was titled "Navigating the 'Infodemic'".

"Overall, we find that most people rely on news, trust the news, and that those who use news media as a source of information know more about the disease than others,"said the authors led by Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen and Dr Richard Fletcher.

Prof Nielsen is the Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford, while Mr Fletcher is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute and leads its research team.

The other authors of the survey report were Mr Nic Newman and Mr J. Scott Brennen from the Reuters Institute, and Professor Philip N. Howard, who teaches at the University of Oxford.

"News use is up, news organisations remain central and news media are trusted by a majority in all six countries,"said the report.

"Most of our respondents also rely on platforms but regard the content they access via social media, video sites and messaging applications (and to a lesser extent search engines) as much less trustworthy than information from news organisations," it concluded.

The release of the report comes at a crucial time as governments persevere with lockdowns and travel restrictions to ensure social distancing between people, in an effort to contain the pandemic.

Nearly two million people have been infected by the coronavirus globally and more than 126,00 have died from Covid-19.

The survey results showed the media's crucial role in making people understand Covid-19 and the consequences of measures not being followed through.

Generally, people said news media had helped them understand the crisis and explained how they could react to it in comparison to government (see graphic). However, a number also felt that news media exaggerated the crisis relative to governments.

Respondents had a high level of trust in scientists, doctors and health experts.

The authors highlighted one area for concern with regard to young people and those with limited formal education who tended to rely less on news organisations for information on Covid-19, trusted both news media and government less and might not know enough about the coronavirus.

"Large minorities in every country do not engage with news (and do not trust it), and do not engage with government advice (and do not trust it), and, in turn, often know less about the crisis. This has to be addressed if important information is to reach - and be taken seriously by - everyone," say the authors.

"There is still much work to do - for news organisations, governments, platform companies, and others - to ensure that everyone knows that they need to know about coronavirus and on that basis can act to protect themselves, those they care about, and their wider communities," they add.

Coronavirus: Key findings of Reuters Institute Survey

- News use is up across all countries surveyed.

- A majority of respondents rate news organisations relatively trustworthy. Three-quarters of respondents trust national or international public health organisations.

- In the United States, people on the left of the political spectrum trust news organisations much more than they trust the government, and people on the right trust the government much more than they trust news organisations.

- Very high numbers of people across age groups, levels of education, and political views rate scientists, doctors, and other health experts as trustworthy sources of information about coronavirus.

- Most respondents rate platforms less trustworthy than experts, health authorities, and news organisations. Results vary significantly across different types of platforms.

- The "trust gap" between information from news organisations and information from social media is 33 percentage points, between news and video sites 30 percentage points, and between news and messaging applications is 35 percentage points.

- People with low levels of formal education are much less likely to say that they rely on news organisations for news and information about coronavirus, and more likely to rely on social media and messaging applications.

- In every country covered, a minority say they have come across a lot or a great deal of false or misleading information around the coronavirus outbreak.

- A majority of respondents in every country say that the news media have helped them understand the crisis and explain what they can do. However, about one in three also say they feel the news media have exaggerated the pandemic.