A special report published this morning by the Israel Democracy Institute about consumption habits and the public’s trust in the media and social networks reveals that Internet news sites are the main means of communication through which the Israeli public consumes news.
Social networks are leaving traditional media behind, photo: AFP
63% state that they visit and update themselves on a daily basis on the various news sites. 59.5% consume their news updates through social networks, 58% consume news through television, 52% update themselves in messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram, 36% listen to news updates through the radio and only 16% consume news in the written press.
News 12 leads; Channel 14 is gaining momentum
Among the television channels in Israel, 51% indicated that News 12 is their main source of news while 20% indicated that Channel 14 is the television channel where they usually catch up on news on a daily basis. Khan’s TV channels 11 and News 13 receive 13% among those answering the survey.
The Patriots Studio on Channel 14. A fifth of the Birel public is updated on the channel’s news on a daily basis, photo: Efrat Eshel
The Democracy Institute further examined what the primary and secondary sources are among viewers for news consumption. It was found that News 12 leads by a huge margin with 72.5%, News 13 with 45%, here 11 with 37% and Channel 14 with 30% – it is also noted that among Channel 14 viewers, about a quarter of the viewers stated that they do not have a secondary channel for news consumption.
The highest rate of public trust in the information reported on television channels is precisely given here 11 (60%) followed by News 12 (54%), News 13 (46%) and Channel 14 with only 35%.
Zuckerberg leaves Elon Musk behind
When examining the consumption of news on social networks, it appears that Facebook is the most common social network for news consumption both as a primary source and as a secondary source among the public in Israel (72%). Instagram is in second place with 46.5%. The social network owned by Elon Musk (X) is far behind with only 12%.
The exponential growth of the messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram and the flow of information in them also gets a significant expression in the survey of the Israel Democracy Institute. 65% of the total sample consumed news through WhatsApp groups and 44% used the Telegram application to keep up with the news. WhatsApp users are members of 15 groups on average, while Telegram users follow about 10 channels on average.
“Crooked Playground”
“Television, news websites and social networks compete head-to-head as the main sources of news consumption in Israel,” explains Dr. Tahila Schwartz Altshuler, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and an expert in law, technology and communications, who conducted the survey.
The Israel Institute for Democracy. “Israelis tell themselves and trust themselves that they know how to distinguish between truth and fake”, photo: Yonatan Zindel
According to her, this is the situation “even though television is heavily regulated, while the other two are not at all. This is how the playing field looks like, both in the sense of huge obligations that apply to television and incessant attempts at political interference in regulation, and in the sense of a complete lack of regulation regarding For social networks: without content commitments and financial investment in Israeli creation and without commitment to prevent toxic or offensive discourse.”
Fake news? “The others are to blame”
The Israel Democracy Institute examined who is responsible for “fake news” in Israel and found that about a quarter of all interviewees believe that ordinary people who share content on social networks are the main ones responsible.
Nearly a fifth voted for party activists and associates of political leaders; and a similar percentage on external factors.
When segmented according to political camps, among right-wing voters the most common answer is “ordinary people” (28%); Among the voters of the center parties, the answer is similar to an almost equal extent to ordinary people and party activists, and among left-wing voters, they point the finger of blame directly at party activists and political leaders (about a third each). 70.5% of the interviewees claim that they have never regretted sharing unsubstantiated information in groups or social networks.
“Our vulnerability to news disinformation is very high,” emphasizes Dr. Schwartz Altshuler, “there is a chain here: Israelis tell themselves and trust themselves that they know how to distinguish between truth and fake, and they also do not regret the content they shared. This is contrary to everything known from studies on disinformation, and contrary to the regret of a large part of the public for watching horror videos.”
“The Israelis,” she points out, “display excessive confidence, are sick of sharing and are not aware of it.” In this context, “we must deal with the WhatsApp groups that fall under the radar of the authorities and of research. Which makes them a significant means of transmitting inciting, toxic and false content.” Dr. Altshuler points out.
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