Israelis less concerned about made-up news, press freedom than other countries: poll

Israelis are less concerned than residents of most other countries about freedom of the press and false news stories — but also less concerned that their speech is being suppressed, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The Pew Research Center, based in Washington, DC, surveyed more than 40,000 adults in 35 countries to determine their views on media and freedom of expression in their home countries. Overall, respondents said that freedom of the press and free speech are important, but lacking.

In Israel, the researchers surveyed 1,001 adults. Israelis were more confident about the state of their media and less worried about government interference than respondents in most countries.

For made-up news and information, 36% of Israelis said the issue was “a very big problem,” 23 points lower than the global median of 59%. Thirty percent of Israelis said made-up news was a minor or nonexistent problem, compared to 14% globally.

Only four countries out of the 35 were less worried about fake news, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland and Singapore.

The researchers said that in Israel and some other high-income countries, the respondents who were most concerned about fake news were also less likely to be satisfied with the state of their country’s democracy.

In Israel, 43% said it was “very important” that the media can report the news without government censorship, compared to 61% globally. Twenty-two percent of Israelis said press freedom was unimportant, twice the international average. Israel’s military censor often bars publication of sensitive information for security reasons.

Like other countries, better-educated Israelis said press freedom was more important than those with less education.

More Israelis than average— 37% compared to 28% worldwide—said the media was completely free in their country. The belief in press freedom was correlated to politics in Israel and other countries, the researchers said, with supporters of the governing party more confident in press freedom.

Most countries have what the researchers dubbed a “freedom gap” —- a difference between the share of respondents who said free press was important to have, and the share of respondents who said their press was actually free. Israel was one of only five countries that did not exhibit such a gap, meaning Israelis believe their press has an appropriate level of freedom.

Israelis were also confident in freedom of expression, with 78% saying they were free to say what they wanted, compared to 68% globally.

Israelis were slightly less concerned with the importance of free speech than residents of other countries, with 50% saying free expression without government interference was “very important,” compared to 59% globally. Israelis were less concerned with free speech than in the past. In 2015, 58% of Israelis said free speech was “very important,” compared to 50% last year.

In Israel, 46% said it was very important that people can use the internet without censorship, compared to 55% globally.

In all the countries surveyed, a median of 61% of respondents said freedom of the press was “very important,” but only 28% believe the media is completely free. Fifty-nine percent said freedom of speech is very important, but only 31% said speech was completely free where they live.

The survey’s margin of error was four percent.