Brits find museum curators more credible than scientists and journalists

A survey, theIpsos MORI Veracity Index, which measures the credibility of professional categories according to the population, is conducted roughly annually in the United Kingdom: it is the longest-running survey of its kind in the country and has been carried out since 1983 by the multinational Ipsos Group SA, which specializes in market research. The curiosity of this year’s edition, the 24th, lies in the fact that museum curators, who are polled for the second year by the Ipsos MORI index, reach the top 5 of the professions considered most credible and even surpass scientists in the trust index. Again, another interesting fact concerning culture, is the fact that for the first time librarians are polled, immediately achieving a flattering second place in the ranking in the first year.

Britons were asked, as they are every year, the following question: “We read you a list of different types of people. For each of them you should tell us whether you generally think they are telling the truth or not.” For the sixth year in a row, the most credible category according to Britons is nurses, in first place with an index of 94 percent (i.e., according to 94 out of 100 Britons, nurses tell the truth): nurses, since their first appearance in the Ipsos MORI Veracity Index, have always led the ranking. They are followed in second place by librarians (93 percent), while in third place are doctors (91 percent), and in fourth place are school teachers (86 percent) tied with museum curators.

They are followed, in order, by engineers (84 percent), scientists (83 percent), magistrates (82 percent), university professors (81 percent), domestic workers (76 percent), pony expresses (71 percent), police (63 percent), the “man on the street” (60 percent), lawyers (59 percent), priests (58 percent), civil servants (57 percent), and news readers (52 percent). Many categories fall short of 50 percent, with journalists stopping at a disastrous 28 percent and being among the least believed categories: for 7 out of 10 Britons, journalists in other terms do not tell the truth (although trust in them is up 5 points from 2020, and 28 percent this year is the record reached by the category). In fact, the ranking is closed by professionals who conduct surveys (49%), who are followed by directors of nonprofit organizations (49%), trade unionists (44%), local administrators (44%), bankers (43%), tenants of property residential (38 percent), professional soccer players (35 percent), real estate agents (32 percent), entrepreneurs (31 percent), journalists (28 percent), government ministers (19 percent), politicians (19 percent) and advertisers (16 percent).

According to Ipsos, one of the highlights of the 2021 edition concerns librarians themselves: “they are among the most credible professionals in Britain,” a note says. "Ninety-three percent of Britons say they trust librarians, and they rank just one percentage point behind nurses, who have been the highest scoring profession every year since 2016, when they were first included in the survey series. Librarians are a new entry in the survey, while museum curators saw a small four percentage point increase in the level of trust accorded them by the British public.

The category with the largest increase in trust over the years is civil service employees (up 32 points from 1983, although the 2021 result is down from 2020), as are trade unionists (up 26 percent from 1983) and scientists, who mark a 20 percent increase from 1997. On the other hand, those who lose are priests: -23% compared to 1983. Journalists, on the other hand, compared to 1983 mark a +9%.

“This year’s index,” says Mike Clemence, Ipsos MORI researcher, “has a new contender very close to the top of the list: more than nine out of ten Britons say they trust librarians. This year’s survey also confirms some movements we began to see last year, particularly the decline in trust in the police, which can be seen among both men and women. Trust in journalists now stands at the highest level we have ever recorded in the index, even they are still trusted by fewer than three in ten Britons. Other professions that have seen an increase in public esteem are professional soccer players and real estate agents. We also saw a slight increase in trust in politicians, although only one in five Britons trust them. This leaves advertisers at the bottom of the 2021 rankings; distrust of them is also not as bad as it was last year.”

Image: the National Gallery in London

Brits find museum curators more credible than scientists and journalists

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