Examining trust in public service news providers: A comparison of the BBC and NHK

Abstract

This study examines trust in public service broadcasters (PSBs), traditional news media, and social media news by comparing the BBC in England and NHK in Japan. Using 19 months of survey data, we analyze how demographics, political alignment, and general trust influence perceptions of PSBs. While the BBC enjoys high trust levels comparable to traditional news media, NHK does not hold the same distinction and consistently ranks lower than both traditional and social media news in Japan. Our findings reveal that trust in the BBC is highly polarized along political lines, with Conservative voters expressing significantly lower levels of trust. In contrast, NHK’s trust levels remain more stable across the political spectrum and are actually higher among Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)[1] supporters. These patterns reflect the different governance structures of the two broadcasters, with the BBC operating under a license fee model with editorial independence and NHK being directly overseen by the Japanese Diet. These results highlight the challenges which public service broadcasters face in maintaining trust in a rapidly evolving media landscape. While PSBs continue to play a vital role in providing reliable news, their credibility is shaped by national political contexts and institutional structures, with significant variation in how different audiences perceive them.