What is news and who reads it?
People avoiding reading the news is a growing problem for publishers. Crucial questions are who defines what is news and how much of it do you really need? With the digitalisation of media it is now the audiences, rather than journalists, deciding what is news. A new survey shows that some feel overwhelmed by either the quantity or content of news, particularly online.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to what “news” is – news means something different to everyone”, a survey from Pew Research Institute says.
One internationally noted media company trying to adjust to the audience’s need for less but more relevant news is Danish Zetland. Founded in 2012, headquartered in Copenhagen and advertising free Zetland publishes a few news articles daily, focusing on in-depth articles.
“We do not publish a lot. We publish around four units per day but we do tell our audience that we cover everything that is actually important to know,” CEO Tav Klitgaard recently told a WAN-IFRA conference. Zetland publishes both in text and audio.
“About 50% of our members are in their 20s and 30s and more than 80% of them consume our product via audio,” Klitgaard said. Members spend an average of seven hours a month consuming Zetland content.
He believes there are three things that make audio a personal experience for Zetland’s members: convenience (you can listen to it anywhere), storytelling (audio is a rich medium that can use sound effects and music) and personability (it feels “intimate” when you can be in people’s ears).
Depressing news like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have increased news avoidance with 39% in a Reuters Institute survey saying they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017.
Even as online platforms have brought great convenience for consumers – and advertisers have flocked to them – they have also disrupted traditional publishing business models in very profound ways, the institute says in its Digital News Report based on a YouGov survey of more than 95,000 people in 47 countries.
“Our data suggest we are now at the beginning of a technology shift which is bringing a new wave of innovation to the platform environment, presenting challenges for incumbent technology companies, the news industry, and for society”, the institute’s report says.
The new US survey by Pew Research Center is focusing on what the audience says is news and what isn’t.
“Some participants noted that their negative feelings about the news are due to common topics of coverage, such as politics, crime and war. Others indicated that their negative feelings originate from feeling overwhelmed by either the quantity or content of news, particularly online. “
About three-quarters (77%) in the survey say they follow the news at least some of the time, and 44% say they intentionally seek out news extremely often or often.
Key findings:
- Defining news has become a personal, and personalized, experience. People decide what news means to them and which sources they turn to based on a variety of factors, including their own identities and interests.
- Most people agree that information must be factual, up to date and important to society to be considered news. Personal importance or relevance also came up often, both in participants’ own words and in their actual behaviors.
- “Hard news” stories about politics and war continue to be what people most clearly think of as news. U.S. adults are most likely to say election updates (66%) and information about the war in Gaza (62%) are “definitely news.”
- There are also consistent views on what news is not. People make clear distinctions between news versus entertainment and news versus opinion.
- At the same time, views of news as not being “biased” or “opinionated” can conflict with people’s actual behaviours and preferences. 55% believe it’s at least somewhat important that their news sources share their political views.
- People don’t always like news, but they say they need it: While many express negative emotions surrounding news (such as anger or sadness), they also say it helps them feel informed or feel that they “need” to keep up with it.
- People’s emotions about news are at times tied to broader feelings of media distrust, or specific events going on at that time – perhaps in combination with individuals’ political identities. For instance, partisans often react positively to news about their own political parties or candidates and negatively to news covering their opposition, which means feelings can shift with political changes.
The report stressed that the answers to “What is news?” are not always straightforward.
“The definitions people hold for news may not be consistent with their actual behaviours. There are sometimes clashes between what people believe others think of as news and what “feels” like news to them. And people often categorise information as “news” along a continuum rather than as a simple yes-or-no question. Those perceptions vary depending on the platform, source and individual.”
“The factual nature of information is a key factor in how Americans determine whether something is news or not. In our online discussion board, participants widely said they want news to be “just the facts,” not opinions or commentary”, the Pew report says.
“However, journalists expressed concerns about media literacy among the public, including the audience’s ability to discern between “what is actual news and factual” versus “unverified sources” and false information.”
“US adults are most likely to say that whether something is factual (85%) or whether it is up to date (78%) are major factors in thinking about whether it counts as news.”
“These are followed by whether the information is important to society, with 72% of respondents considering this a major factor in deciding what’s news.”
- Usually considered news: Politics and international conflicts, local crime stories, weather and traffic (particularly instances that were severe or affected more people) were viewed as news.
- Sometimes considered news: Perceptions of sports information were mixed, depending on both the individual participant and the story itself.
- Rarely considered news: Content perceived as “entertainment” – including celebrity stories or topics of personal interest that do not convey “important” information – was rarely seen as news. Neither were videos of animals, lifestyle posts or memes.
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