The latest victim of the internet age may be — surprise! — traditional news outlets.
A global survey of 27,000 people by public relations firm Edelman found that people trust online search engines more than traditional media for reliable news. Quartz reports that researchers will present the study's findings this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Sixty-four percent of those surveyed trusted online search engines for "general news and information," while only 62 percent trusted "traditional media." Unsurprisingly, the gap was much more pronounced for millennials: 72 percent of millennials trusted online search engines, while only 64 percent trusted traditional media.
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Of course, Quartz is quick to point out the irony here: Google "does not actually report on anything, but instead serves up links to stories on a mix of other sites that users, apparently, trust less than the aggregator itself." There is a silver lining, though: Respondents trusted traditional media more than social media.
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