Slovaks tend to approach corruption and the topic of the state of justice with considerable pessimism, a new survey suggests. (source: Unsplash)
People trust the traditional media and anti-corruption NGOs most when it comes to reports of corruption, a new poll shows.
When seeking the latest information about corruption and seeking justice, people trust politicians the least, shows the survey, conducted by Transparency International Slovakia and polling agency FOCUS. Traditional media and anti-corruption NGOs are in the lead.
Establishing justice has become a dominant topic in Slovak society during the five years since the murder of a journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. The survey was conducted between February 1 and February 8, among 1017 respondents.
Of those polled, 62 percent obtain information from the traditional media, with reporting by news media accounting for 58 percent and the other four percent coming from entertainment magazines. That left one-third of respondents typically searching for the latest information about corruption among the so-called “alternative media”, including social media and outlets that lean towards bias and distortion of facts.
The latter types usually record greater popularity amongst Slovak readers, as shown in other polls, Transparency International Slovakia stated. Disinformation media faced a wave of bans and blocks after their harmful activities were identified.
Pessimistic approach
People tend to approach corruption and the topic of rule of law with considerable pessimism. The study showed that out of five questions on corruption and the state of justice since the elections in 2020, a majority of respondents answered in accordance with the facts in only one case.
This was the question of whether "influential people involved in corruption are brought before the courts more often than they were in the period before the last parliamentary elections." This statement, which is confirmed by the number of reported cases and analyses of judgements in corruption cases, was correctly identified as true by 56 percent of respondents.
Additionally, 56 percent of respondents stated that major corruption cases occur more often now than before the 2020 parliamentary elections. Only 35 percent of respondents thought the opposite. The press has been writing about corruption cases almost daily since 2020, but the overwhelming majority are cases from before 2020, the organisation explained.
Slovaks also think bribes are more frequent today than before the last parliamentary elections, but surveys show the opposite.
The majority of survey respondents also regard developments in the area of Slovaks' trust in the judiciary with deep pessimism. Sixty-six percent of respondents estimated that the population's trust in the judiciary had declined. Despite that, Eurobarometer surveys show the contrary: there has been a gradual increase in trust in the justice system, from 23 percent in the autumn of 2019 to the current 33 percent in the winter of 2022/23.
Far from the facts
The older generations and people with fewer educational qualifications struggle to identify truthful statements, the study shows. A similar phenomenon applies among voters who tend to support the opposition parties. By contrast, 60 percent of coalition voters correctly identified a decrease in recorded cases of corruption in recent years.
People that gather information from traditional media also perceive dealing with corruption and corruption occurrences more positively than people that rely on “alternative media”.
Transparency International notes that such outcomes are possibly related to the way traditional media and “alternative media” write about these topics. Conspiracy theories, emotive claims and personal attacks often appear in the "alternative media" on these topics.
