NGOs win greater trust than media and big businesses
Pressure groups and charities have overtaken governments, media and big businesses to become the world's most trusted institutions, according to an international poll to be presented this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
An annual survey of attitudes in eight countries suggests public trust has been eroded by scandals such as corporate malfeasance and discredited journalism. The survey, conducted in December for Edelman, a US public relations firm, found that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace now scored the highest for trustworthiness in the US and Europe.
The trend is most pronounced in the US where trust ratings for NGOs have climbed from 36 per cent in 2001 to 55 per cent, relegating business to second place. The poll confirms that anger over the Iraq war is spilling over into an anti-Americanism that is affecting US brands in European markets.
Faith in the internet as a source of trustworthy information has also grown sharply, at the expense of more traditional media tainted by scandal.
This is the sixth such poll carried out among 1,500 university graduates aged between 35 and 65 with household incomes of more than $75,000 (�58,000, ￡40,000) in Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Brazil, the US, Canada and China.
■ A report today by the Forum's global governance initiative says that business must play a much bigger role in tackling environmental overload, pervasive poverty and pandemics.
It urges governments to make greater use of private-sector energies on projects such as developing affordable products and services for poor consumers, and offering health treatment programmes with business and philanthropic benefits.
“非政府组织最值得信赖”
据一份国际民意测验显示，压力团体和慈善机构已超过政府、媒体和大型企业，成为世界上最值得信赖的机构。该民意测验的结果本周将在达沃斯世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)上公布。
这份针对8个国家公众态度的年度调查表明，由于企业违法行为和失信的新闻报道等丑闻，公众信任已遭侵蚀。这份在12月份为美国公共关系公司Edelman进行的调查发现，在美国和欧洲，国际特赦组织(Amnesty International)和绿色和平组织(Greenpeace)等非政府组织现在可信度得分最高。
该趋势在美国最显著。非政府组织信用度评级已从2001年的36%升至55%，使企业降至第2位。该民意测验进一步证实，对伊拉克战争的愤怒正扩展成一种反美情绪，在欧洲市场对美国品牌产生影响。
人们信任互联网，将其作为可信赖信息来源的程度也已急剧上升，而传统媒体由于受到丑闻的玷污，地位相对下降。
这是第6次进行此类民意调查，调查对象为英国、日本、德国、巴西、美国、加拿大和中国的1500名具有大学文化程度的人士，年龄介于35至65岁，家庭收入超过7.5万美元。
世界经济论坛全球治理倡议(global governance initiative)今天公布的一份报告表示，在解决环境超载、大面积贫困和流行病的过程中，企业必须发挥更大作用。
报告敦促各国政府在各类项目中更多利用私人部门力量，如为贫困消费者开发价格适宜的产品和服务，提供具有商业和慈善两方面效益的医疗方案等。
