Author and affiliation: Ramsha Jahangir, Disinformation journalist
Reviewer and affiliation: Ruurd Oosterwoud, DROG
Introduction
- Dutch residents continue to demonstrate high trust in media, with traditional news media still holding a firm and stable position in the media landscape. In fact, in a remarkable display of media trust, while there was a slight decrease in confidence in the news before the pandemic, the trend has reversed during the corona years, the latest research shows.
- Despite high trust in mainstream media, right-wing, anti-institutional, and COVID-19 conspiracies have plagued the Netherlands for the last three years, resulting in violent clashes and attacks on vaccination centres with the public increasingly exhibiting scepticism towards the government and institutions like the scientific community and the media.
- The Dutch government is ahead of the curve in leading a coordinated response against disinformation. The government has launched several initiatives to counter disinformation, such as pioneering a government-wide strategy against disinformation, as well as undertaking an interactive game to promote media literacy among councillors and alderpersons.
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This project is funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
