A survey published by Statista revealed some shocking results about the levels of public trust toward European journalists. 

The results come in light of several reports issued by the European press to conceal Washington's involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline.

Conducted online in the month of March and using a representative sample of 1,001 adults, the survey revealed that people have high doubts about the quality and impartiality of information provided by journalists. 

The data showed that Finland ranks first among European countries with the highest levels of trust toward European journalism (69%), followed by Portugal (61%), then Denmark (58%), and the Netherlands (56%).

On the lowest spectrum are included the UK (34%), Spain (32%), France (29%), Greece (27%), and a number of eastern European countries. 

In the UK, journalists were found to be trusted slightly more than politicians and real estate agents.

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In France, where social unrest has been rampant due to French President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, a survey conducted by ViaVoice found that 54% of people said that the quality of information has "deteriorated" in recent years.

Of these people, 70% said this is owed to the fact that information is "too biased" and "not impartial enough." 

Another reason was that "information is sometimes false and too quickly relayed."

"The question of impartiality" came up often in the survey, said Adrien Broche of Viavoice, which carried out the survey. 

"It goes hand in hand with what we demand of information: since we demand useful and verified information, we demand that it be impartial," he added.

Nonetheless, journalism is still viewed as important by the majority of surveyed people, with 84% saying the profession was useful, despite reporting a major fall of 6% compared to 2022. 

Broche noted that "media coverage was deemed too partisan" and "too harsh" of Macron's plans to implement his controversial reform. 

About 7 out of 10 respondents said information would not confirm or change their opinion, noting that facts should give people "the keys to understanding the phenomena that are taking place" in order to "build an opinion through facts",  Broche noted.

Nonetheless, a "taste for information was still there", he added. 

95% of respondents said they sought out the news at least once a week, while 69% did so every day. 

Julian Assange: a perfect example of how constrained the free press is

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been unlawfully charged in the US with 17 counts of "espionage" and one count of computer misuse for publicizing over 500,000 secret military files pertaining to Washington's wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange exposed the US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan that whistleblower Chelsea Manning had disclosed, which resulted in severe embarrassment in Washington.

The maximum sentence for the charges is 175 years in jail.

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