Radio rules the roost as most trusted source of news in UK

LONDON - Video has not, after all, killed the radio star if a UK Office of Communications survey is to be gone by, as according to it, radio has emerged as the most trusted source of news in the UK ahead of TV and the Internet.

The regulator found that 66% of people considered radio to be reliable and accurate, compared with 58% for online, 54% for TV and just 34% for newspapers.

This year has been a lean one for the once infallible Television, with the Internet pipping it to bag the position of the second most trusted source for the first time.

However there was significant difference of opinion between adults and youngsters regarding the subject of reliability of news websites, with just 3 out of 10 adults rating them as “reliable and accurate”

According to the BBC, the survey, of 1,824 people over the age of 16, was conducted in 2009.

The survey also found the use of digital TV, Internet and mobile phones had increased since 2007.

About three quarters (73%) of adults used the Internet in 2009, up from two thirds (63%) in 2007, while 91% of the population used a mobile phone.

Half of all Internet users said that using the Internet had increased their contact with friends or family who lived further away, and about a quarter said it had increased their contact with friends who live nearby.

Social networking sites such as Facebook were among the most popular sites, with 35% of respondents regularly using the Internet to keep in touch with family and friends.

Reiterating the soaring popularity of online social networking, the survey found that twice as many Internet users had a social networking site profile (44%) compared with 2007, the BBC reports. (ANI)