[From Executive Summary]

NGOs
Trust in NGOs remains high, with an overall 88 percent of countries surveyed over 50 percent (the highest is Mexico, an emerging market, at 83 percent; the lowest is Japan, a developed market, at 37 percent). The most notable change over time is in China, where only five years ago trust in NGOs was 48 percent; today it is 81 percent. Three of the top five countries with the highest trust in NGOs, like China, are emerging markets.

Media
Trust in media, at 57 percent globally, continues to improve with a five-point increase from 2012. Sixty-two percent of countries surveyed have a trust score of 50 percent or above, compared to 50 percent of countries surveyed in 2008. Trust is significantly higher in emerging countries than in developed countries (figure 3). Large gaps in trust also exist in how the general population view types of media, with emerging markets placing more trust in social by 32points, traditional by 14 points, online search engines by 24 points, hybrid by 24 points and owned by 22 points. Trust in media breaks down along generational lines, as well. Among all ages in the general population, trust in traditional media and online search engines is highest. But trust in the other three categories of media drops among older generations particularly (age 45+) to an average of 34.5 percent for hybrid, 34 percent for owned and 33 percent for social. Among the youngest generation (ages 18-29), trust is highest in online search engines (61 percent) and lowest in owned media (44 percent).

The Edelman Trust Barometer is out for 2013, and makes, as ever, interesting reading for those in civil society and the media.

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