Results: Media use and the reliability of news media

In 2026, the question structure concerning news media use was changed. First, respondents were asked which channel they used most often to follow news. Those following journalistically edited media were then asked for their three most important news media sources and their trust in these sources. In 2024, by contrast, respondents were asked to name the three news media sources they followed the most, but the reliability of news media was assessed by all respondents based on a pre‑provided list of sources regardless of whether they used them. The 2024 and 2026 results regarding the reliability of news media are therefore not comparable.

In the question concerning the primary channel for following news, respondents were asked to choose only one primary channel, and the question was presented to all respondents (n=1,019).

News is most often followed directly from news media, such as newspapers, news portals, television news and radio (45%). Social media is almost as common as a primary news channel (40%). Nine per cent follow news most often from conversations with other people and one per cent from elsewhere. Six per cent of respondents stated that they do not follow news at all.

Those respondents who followed news most often either directly from news media or via social media were additionally asked for their three most followed news media or sources. One response category consisted of social media channels and influencers. After this, respondents assessed the reliability of only the news sources they had named themselves. These results are presented in more detail next in this subsection.

Social media’s position as a transmitter of news is strong in the data: 40% follow news most often through social media. However, the question does not reveal to what extent journalistic media content is followed via social media and to what extent influencers or other entities. Social media channels and influencers also emerged among the most followed news sources. Of those who named them among their most followed sources, 30% rated their trust in them as strong. This was the lowest share of strong trust among the news sources examined.

The results show that social media’s strong position as a news transmission channel does not entail a correspondingly strong trust in it.

The question concerning the most followed individual news sources was presented for the second time in 2026. In this survey round, however, the question was presented only to those respondents who had stated in the previous question that they follow news most often either directly from news media or via social media. There was no corresponding restriction in 2024, so the percentages for different years are not comparable.

The classification of responses was also refined from 2024. Social media channels and influencers, tabloids and MTV were separated into their own categories.

Respondents were asked to freely name three news media or sources they follow the most. Interviewers classified the responses into pre‑defined categories. Alternatives were thus not read out to respondents; instead, they named the sources they follow spontaneously.

Yle Uutiset was most frequently mentioned (70% of those who answered the question). Almost as frequently mentioned were social media channels and influencers, such as Telegram, YouTube, TikTok and blogs (69%). The next most common were other international media (28%), Helsingin Sanomat and regional newspapers (23%), tabloids (16%), exiled Russian or opposition media (16%), Yle Novosti (15%), media operating in Russia or state‑controlled media (10%), and MTV (6%).

Media operating in Russia or state‑controlled media refers here to media produced in Russia, whereas the category of exiled Russian or opposition media includes, for example, media operating outside the country that oppose the current Russian administration.

Among those who answered the question, age clearly differentiates the followed news sources. Mentions of social media channels and influencers decrease with age, although not entirely straightforwardly: among respondents aged 20–24 who answered the question, 87% mentioned them, compared with 50% of those aged 75–85. In the case of media operating in Russia, the direction is the reverse. In the youngest age groups, 3–5% mentioned it, whereas among 65–69‑year-olds the proportion was 27%. Following Yle Uutiset does not change as consistently with age; instead, the proportions vary between 58% and 81%. Following Helsingin Sanomat and regional newspapers, in turn, becomes more common with age: in the youngest age group 9% mentioned them, compared with 38% in the oldest.

Examined by length of residence, a similar difference is visible in the following of media operating in Russia. Media operating in Russia were mentioned by 2% of those who had lived in Finland for 2–4 years and 14% of those who had lived in Finland for at least 16 years among respondents who answered the question. Exiled Russian opposition media and Yle Novosti, by contrast, were more common among those who had lived in Finland for a short time: among those who had lived in Finland for 2–4 years, 26% and 24% respectively mentioned them.

Yle Novosti and other international media stand out particularly in the followed news sources of those respondents whose Finnish language skills are weak. Examined by gender, men mentioned international media more often than women, whereas women more often mentioned Yle Uutiset as well as Helsingin Sanomat and regional newspapers.

In addition to following news sources, respondents were asked to assess the reliability of the news sources they named themselves on a scale of 1–5, where 1 = very unreliable and 5 = very reliable. Respondents thus assessed only those news sources they had named among the three they followed the most in the previous question.

The question structure differs from the 2024 study, so the results cannot be compared between years. In 2024, all respondents assessed the reliability of pre‑listed news media regardless of whether they followed the medium in question. In 2026, the assessment targeted only sources named by the respondent themselves.

Due to the change in question logic, the reliability ratings received by different news sources are based on respondent groups of very different sizes. Yle Uutiset was assessed by 600 respondents and social media channels and influencers by 595 respondents, whereas media operating in Russia was assessed by 82 respondents and MTV by 56 respondents.

The share of strong trust was highest in the case of Helsingin Sanomat and regional newspapers: 68% of those who named them among their most followed sources gave reliability a value of 4 or 5. In the case of exiled Russian opposition media, the corresponding proportion was 65%. Fifty‑seven per cent of those who named Yle Uutiset, 55% of those who named Yle Novosti and 54% of those who named MTV rated their trust as strong. The lowest shares of strong trust were for social media channels and influencers (30%), media operating in Russia (35%) and tabloids (40%).

In the case of exiled Russian opposition media, the share of strong trust was thus one of the highest in the examination and greater than in the case of Yle Uutiset. When making trust comparisons between different media, however, it must be noted that each is assessed by different groups of respondents.

The 2026 data repeat a finding similar to 2024 concerning the relationship between the use of Yle and trust in it. Yle Uutiset was named among their three most followed news sources by 601 respondents, i.e. 70% of those who answered the question. A reliability rating was given by 600 respondents, of whom 57% (341 respondents) rated their trust in Yle as strong. The mean of the reliability ratings was 3.6. Thus, a significant proportion of those who consider Yle one of their main news sources do not place strong trust in it.

In the 2026 data, differences in the reliability ratings of individual news sources according to length of residence are mostly minor. In 2024, respondents who had lived in Finland longer rated the reliability of several Finnish news media lower than others did, but the 2026 data show no corresponding clear difference. However, the results from different years cannot be directly compared in this respect, because in 2026 each news source was rated only by respondents who named it among their most followed sources.

Regarding media operating in Russia, the reliability rating increased with length of residence: the mean was 2.0 among those who had lived in Finland for 2 to 4 years, and 3.3 among those who had lived in Finland for at least 16 years. The trend is similar to that in the 2024 data, but the figures cannot be directly compared due to the changed question logic.

Differences between age groups are likewise mostly small. However, reliability ratings for social media channels and influencers mostly increase with age: the mean is 2.9 among 20–29‑year-olds and 3.5 among 70–85-year-olds. Young people who named social media among their most followed sources therefore give it lower average reliability ratings than older respondents do. Ratings in the oldest age group are high for several news sources; for example, the mean for Yle Uutiset is 3.9 and for Yle Novosti 4.0. The highest mean values for media operating in Russia are found among 50–59-year-olds (3.6) and 70–85-year-olds (3.7), and the lowest among 40–49-year-olds (2.7). The number of respondents in subgroups rating individual news sources is in some cases very small, and differences must be interpreted with caution.

In the question concerning institutional trust presented earlier in this report, respondents also rated their trust in the Finnish media in general. There is a clear link between general media trust and trust directed at individual Finnish news media (Figure 24 ): those who show weak trust in the Finnish media in general also give lower average reliability ratings to individual Finnish news media. A similar connection was observed in the 2024 data.

Media use and reliability of news sources

• News media and social media are almost equally common main news channels: 45% follow news mostly directly from news media and 40% from social media.
• Yle Uutiset and social media channels head the list of most followed news sources.
• Social media is a common news channel, but trust in it among those who named it among their most followed news sources is relatively low.
• Media operating in Russia are mentioned among their most followed news sources by a relatively small proportion of respondents, but the proportion is higher in older age groups and among those who had lived in Finland for a long time.
• Strong trust is most frequently reported towards Helsingin Sanomat, regional newspapers, and exiled Russian opposition media in the ratings given by respondents who follow them.