The BBC is more trusted by the public than the government on claims regarding Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, a poll has found.

Of those questioned for the NOP survey, 54 per cent were found to have most faith in the corporation for information about the military campaign, compared to just over a fifth claiming to believe ministers.

However the results of the poll, commissioned by public relations consultants Weber Shandwick, were not all good news for broadcasters: half of all respondents claimed to not trust television and radio news as much as they did a year ago.

Despite this finding, television remains the most popular news source, as cited by 51 per cent of those interviewed, compared to 12 per cent apiece for radio and newspapers.

Yet again, the BBC came top of the poll, securing public trust in 44 per cent of cases, while ITV news was trusted by just under a quarter of respondents, with Sky News coming in third place with 13 per cent.

"Whenever governments picks a fight with the BBC, they tend to come off worst," said Peter Morgan, Weber Shandwick's head of media strategy.

"However in this particular battle there have been no clear winners, our research also shows that the public's faith in broadcast news has been fundamentally shaken by this unholy row."