News Avoidance and Its Impact on Journalism
News avoidance is the habit of intentionally resisting news. It’s a growing problem that threatens the future of the media industry as well as democracy at large because of the fourth estate’s ability to motivate individuals into performing their civic duties. Journalism’s duty is to citizens, to inform them so they can make decisions that lend themselves to good governance. But news avoidant people, who either avoid the news entirely or dramatically reduce the amount of information they consume, can throw a wrench into those plans.
So what causes it? There are several reasons. These include but are not limited to:
Information overload, which can be defined as the excess of information available to a person aiming to complete a task or make a decision, Many have felt overwhelmed by the easy access to news thanks to the rise of social media platforms and the 24-hour news cycle.
Media distrust, which is when news consumers doubt the veracity of journalism and journalists. While media consumption was at record highs in 2020, trust declined significantly. (Consider a Gallup survey that found that the percentage of Americans who have no trust in the media reached record highs in 2020, with 60 percent saying that they have little to “no trust at all” in it.
Negative news stories, which consumers have cited as having adverse impacts on their mental health. Doomscrolling, the act of spending an excessive amount of screen time devoted to the absorption of negative news, is common, and studies have shown that the more news people consume during and after traumatic events, the more likely they are to suffer from issues such as depression, stress, and anxiety.
Last month, the annual Reuters Institute Digital News Report indicated that news avoidance is not only high but increasing. The survey of more than 93,000 readers in 46 countries found that roughly 38 percent of those surveyed said they often or sometimes avoid news about certain topics. The topics these people have tended to avoid by and large: politics and COVID-19.
The reasons survey respondents cited for their news avoidance are sobering. 43 percent said that too much coverage is devoted to politics and COVID-19. 36 percent said that the news had a negative effect on their mood and 29 percent said that the amount of news they are exposed to left them feeling “worn out.”
The survey also found that the United States is ranked last among all countries in regard to media trust. Just 26 percent of Americans reported that they trust the news most of the time. But the survey shows that news avoidance poses problems for all countries. 29 percent of those surveyed say that the news is untrustworthy or biased, 17 percent said that the news “leads to arguments I’d rather avoid,” and 16 percent say they avoid the news because “there is nothing I can do with the information.”
Also contributing to news avoidance: The fact that it’s difficult to get Americans to pay for digital news subscriptions, which is a considerably more difficult task for smaller publications than for national news outlets.
“Subjects that journalists consider most important, such as political crises, international conflicts and global pandemics, seem to be precisely the ones that are turning some people away,” said Nic Newman, the study’s lead author, who noted in an interview with the Poynter Institute that the move to digital has made “people feel they are being bombarded/overloaded often when they haven’t asked for it” and that “the abundance of other (more entertaining) choices means it is easier to avoid/select something less depressing.”
Newman suggested that addressing trust issues is part of the key to addressing news avoidance, though they acknowledged that current “levels of partisanship” could hinder progress. Newman pointed out that making the news more accessible and easier to understand could also help make reading the news more attractive to young people and the less educated. “”Some publishers are working on personalization that automatically formats stories to fit consumption styles (bullet points or more videos, pictures),” Newman added, noting that these decisions “may also help over time to make news more accessible and relevant” but that these same publishers could “lose their core avid news follower audience which is what matters commercially” should they widen and diversify their agenda.
