Survey finds Maltese sceptical about the press

The Maltese read fewer newspapers than anybody else in the 13 EU accession and candidate countries, according to a Eurobarometer survey.

The Maltese also have the lowest trust in the media and opinion polls among the 13 candidates, according to the comprehensive survey carried out in autumn last year.

Among other issues, the survey delved into how frequently citizens of the candidate countries watch news on television, read it in daily newspapers, and listen to it on the radio.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents watch news programmes on TV on a daily basis and another 22 per cent watch them several times a week.

Slovenians (48 per cent) and the Czechs (51 per cent) are the least likely and Hungarians the most likely (72 per cent) to watch television news on a daily basis. Sixty-four per cent of the Maltese respondents watch news every day, with 16 per cent saying they did so several times a week.

Turning to newspapers, two in 10 respondents in the candidate countries read a newspaper every day and 20 per cent several times a week.

A staggering 34 per cent of the Maltese said they "never" read a newspaper. Twenty per cent said they read one every day, 10 per cent several times a week and 19 per cent once or twice a week.

At the other end of the scale, 43 per cent of Hungarians and 32 per cent of Estonians read newspapers every day. Just 17 per cent and nine per cent respectively of these two countries never read a newspaper.

A total of 41 per cent of the Maltese said they listen to news on the radio every day, with another 19 per cent saying they never did.

Trust levels for the press are highest in Lithuania (72 per cent) and Latvia (62 per cent), with the lowest in Malta (33 per cent) and Turkey (32 per cent).

In the candidate countries, 66 per cent of respondents say they tend to trust opinion polls and 22 per cent of citizens do not have confidence in survey research.

Romanians have the highest confidence (74 per cent) in opinion polls, a stark contrast to Malta where just 45 per cent of respondents trust opinion research.

The Maltese, however, showed they were the best informed about the EU in general, topping the list among the 13 countries.

All Maltese respondents were aware of the existence of the EU, 92 per cent of the European parliament and 81 per cent of the European Commission.

Turning to the European constitution, the proportion of Maltese respondents who did not have a clear opinion on this issue rose from 23 per cent to 29 per cent in the past six months. Support for the constitution decreased by eight percentage points to 62 per cent.

People in the candidate countries are not very supportive of an income tax paid directly to the EU, with just 34 per cent on average in favour.

The Maltese are even more reluctant about this issue, with just a quarter of respondents saying they were prepared to pay a European tax.

Anticipated voter turnout in the European Parliament elections was extremely low among the candidates. The most likely to take part are citizens from Romania (48 per cent), Cyprus (44 per cent) and Malta (43 per cent).

The Maltese feel the European Parliament campaign should focus mainly on employment, education and on issues specific to Malta.