The world is growing indifferent to the news, in particular about the russian-Ukrainian war

People worldwide try to read the news less and avoid consuming it. This according to a report on news consumption in 46 countries by YouGov*, published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Interest in television and print media continues to decline in most countries around the world. Still, consuming information on the Internet and social networks does not fill this gap. In particular, the survey showed respondents’ fatigue from political news: most respondents tend to ignore news about russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the coronavirus pandemic and material on economic issues.

Following russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, people rely on television news mostly in countries closest to the fighting, such as Germany and Poland. The increase in news consumption was greatest there. In contrast, selective avoidance of news has increased even more (likely due to the difficult and depressing nature of the coverage).

Although most respondents continue to consume news regularly, 38% of respondents often or sometimes try to avoid reading the news – compared to 29% in 2017. About 36% of respondents – especially those under 35 – say that the news worsens their mood. In addition, many younger people reported avoiding the news because it is difficult to follow or understand, suggesting that the media could do much more to simplify the language and better explain or contextualize complex stories.

Finland showed the highest level of overall confidence in the news – 69%, and the United States the lowest – 26%. In the United States, 42% of respondents trust the news.

The most popular social network for news consumption is Facebook, and TikTok’s news segment is also growing: younger audiences are increasingly receiving news through this social network. They are less interested in influential online publications.

The most significant interest in news about the russian-Ukrainian war is observed in Poland and Germany, as well as in Great Britain and the United States.

You can find the complete report at the link.

According to a study by Kantar, in March Ukrainians started watching the news less. Brand Analytics’s research showed that Instagram has 30% fewer posts from russians after the social network was blocked in russia.

Source:  Detector Media

Leading image: Suva

Translator: Vira Hanchar

* The research is based on the YouGov survey, conducted in 46 countries among 93,432 respondents, with an error of 2-3%.