Ofcom Report Dispels CNN ‘Fake News’ Claims

US President Donald Trump regularly calls out CNN as ‘fake news’ but the UK’s media regulator finds UK viewers trust their reporting.

A recent Ofcom survey into British news consumption, both on television and online, has found that out of those questioned, 82% responded that CNN’s output was of high quality and 78% found it both accurate and trustworthy.

In the same survey, 69% found Sky News trustworthy, whilst the BBC’s news output scored 73%, with those questioned finding CNN’s output of a higher quality than both major domestic UK news channels.

Ofcom also noted in the survey that CNN scored strongly when respondents were asked if the network “helps me understand what’s going on in the world today”.

CNN also scores higher than any competitors in offering a range of opinions (79%), and offering a depth of analysis not available elsewhere (78%).

Elsewhere in the survey, 78% say CNN ‘is important to me personally’, and 74% say it ‘helps me make up my mind’ – higher than any of the other networks.

Tony Maddox, EVP and Managing Director of CNN International, said: “There is nothing more important to a news organization than trust, and that trust is earned by delivering high quality, accurate, impartial and informative journalism. At a time when professional journalism is more important than ever, it’s gratifying to see just how highly UK audiences rate CNN’s reporting and how much our viewers value our work.”

Opinion

Despite CNN’s limited reach in the UK, the results of the report are encouraging for CNN International’s ever expanding London operation, and with the recent addition of Iain Dale, a popular British political commentator to CNN’s daily live discussion show “CNN Talk”, the attraction for British audiences grows further.

CNN would do well to further the impact of CNN Talk, possibly making a return to freeview through offering the programme as a simulcast to the UK’s ultra-local television channels as a simulcast.