ANSA most trusted Italian news brand for 6th year - Reuters Institute

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 14 - ANSA has come top among Italy's news brands for the trust the public has in it for the sixth consecutive year, according to the Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2023.
    The 12th edition of the report, which profiles the media situations in 46 countries, said 78% of Italians trust ANSA, up from 73% last year.
    News channel SkyTg24 came second and financial daily Sole 24 Ore came third with trust scores of 71% and 69% respectively.
    The report added that the website of Italy's top news agency, ANSA.it, had climbed a position in the ranking for online weekly reach, moving joint second alongside Fanpage, with 20% of people using it at least once a week.
    The top website was Mediaset's TgCom24, with 21% of people using it every week.
    "Overall news trust remains very low (34%) but there are relatively high levels of trust in some specific news brands, especially those known for lower levels of political partisanship," the report said.
    "The least trusted outlets are those with a more pronounced political bias and also the digital-born outlet Fanpage".
    The report said that most Italian news organisations mainly rely on online advertising to fund digital operations.
    "However, publishers' share of online advertising revenues is limited, with platforms such as Google and Facebook/Meta taking the lion's share (85% in 2021)," it said.
    "This is particularly worrying as traditional advertising revenues shrink.
    "From 2017 to 2021, the overall revenues in the television and print sectors decreased by 10%, and this led to a reduction of 2,400 employees (-17%) just in the newspaper and magazine industry".
    Photo: ANSA Editor-in-chief Luigi Contu. (ANSA).