People are averting their eyes and ears away from news media - it's depressing, relentless and boring
We regularly cover Oxford University’s Reuters Institute (of journalism), and their annual Digital Report. It’s an often startling snapshot of global attitudes to news and journalism, and the evolving modes of news delivery.
This year’s big story is that ever more people are averting their eyes and ears from news. Their reasons? It’s depressing, relentless and boring.
As the BBC reports:
Almost four in 10 (39%) people worldwide said they sometimes or often actively avoid the news, compared with 29% in 2017, according to the report by Oxford University's Reuters Institute.
Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East may have contributed to people's desire to switch off the news, the report's authors said. It said that news avoidance is now at record high levels.
A total of 94,943 adults across 47 countries were surveyed by YouGov in January and February for this year's Digital News Report.
It comes at a time when billions of people around the world have been going to the polls in national and regional elections.
The report found that elections have increased interest in the news in a few countries, including the United States.
However, the overall trend remains firmly downwards, according to the study.
Around the world, 46% of people said they were very or extremely interested in the news - down from 63% in 2017. In the UK, interest in news has almost halved since 2015.
The report's lead author Nic Newman told the BBC:
The news agenda has obviously been particularly difficult in recent years… You've had the pandemic [and] wars, so it's a fairly natural reaction for people to turn away from the news, whether it's to protect their mental health or simply wanting to get on with the rest of their lives.
Those choosing to selectively avoid the news also often do so because they feel powerless… These are people who feel they have no agency over massive things that are happening in the world. Some people feel increasingly overwhelmed and confused by the amount of news around, while others feel fatigued by politics.
Women and younger people were more likely to feel worn out by the amount of news around, according to the report.
More here. Below is an embed of the slides of the report with its leading stats, and a link to the Overview site of the report.
And for our extensive archive (and strategising) around the future of news media, go to “A Better Media”, and “Alternative Media System” in our category list.