Trust this blog. (No, really.)

Trust in journalism is on the wane, according to Edelman's annual trust barometer. Globally, less than half of those surveyed said they trusted the media three years ago, and things have only gone south since then. (Forty-five per cent now do.)

Curiously, though, there seems to be an inverse relationship between development and trust in media -- or, to put it another way, the more professional and robust a country's media sector, the less people trust it. Last year, barely more than one British person in four said they trusted the media. The Swedish, Americans and French held the industry in similarly low regard (29, 32, 32 per cent, respectively).

Sweden, incidentally, is tied for the top slot on Reporters Without Borders' 2009 Press Freedom Index. (The UK and US are tied for 20; France is at 43.)

The story I wrote in today's paper focuses on the UAE's high regard for the media sector, with 66 per cent of people saying they trusted it. The only places where media was trusted more were Indonesia (83 per cent) and Mexico (67 per cent). The UAE is 86th, Indonesia is 100th and Mexico is 137th out of the 175 countries listed on the press freedom index.

So what does all this mean? Are trust and freedom antithetical? Is transparency less important than authority? Is accountability overrated?

The numbers suggest the answer may be yes.

One of the biggest themes in the Edelman index was the increase in trust in government globally, which makes sense, since government spent most of the last year playing the role of the stern father with the fat wallet paying for the irresponsibility of the financial and property sectors. In the UAE, unsurprisingly, trust in government was among the highest in the world.

At the very least, the studies show us that, as the world economy emerges from a rather traumatic 18 months, government has more power than it has had in a long time, and with it, more responsibility.