Hand-in-hand with the previous section’s question of media influence, respondents were asked about their most-trusted media sources for information. Responses showed that Europeans and southern and eastern Mediterraneans report television as the most used and trusted, at 45% and 58%, respectively. While print media was also shown as important for Europeans at 40%, only 15% of southern and eastern Mediterraneans rely on it.

Let’s take a closer look at our experts’ comments on these, and other, trusted information sources about their own, and the other, country group.

We begin with noting Rima Marrouch’s take that, “If media causes a change in perceptions about people from the other shores of the Mediterranean, it is an indication that these people from both shores are sometimes framed in negative light in media stories…” She discusses how young people are turning more and more to social media for their news, noting that for young southern and eastern Mediterraneans, TV loses its top spot and gives way to social media, at 37%.

Femke De Keulenaer highlights social media use as a highly-trusted information source about Europeans by southern and eastern Mediterraneans, which is directly opposite to Europeans’ choices. Jordanians responded at 46% to relying on social media; while Tunisia, Palestine and Israel did so at between 29% and 33%.

Alexandra Büchler underlines that “one of the most significant findings is that the media are seen as contributing to a negative, rather than positive image of the region, and that their impact on changing views and perceptions is at best limited. At the same time, the high number of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean respondents reporting not having seen, read or heard anything in the media about Europe is disconcerting and raises questions about the reliability of mainstream media as a source of balanced information”.

Büchler further highlights that the Survey confirms the rise in the importance of the Internet both as a source of news and information and as a medium for interaction between individuals on both shores, particularly among the younger generation (Chart 15.2 and 15.3).

Taynja Abdel Baghy and Konrad Pedziwiatr note, respectively, that online and social media are trusted in France and Poland at greatly different percentages of 18% and 14%, and 40% and 22%, respectively, even though Internet access is high in both countries.