In times of pandemic, people seek to inform themselves through reliable and credible media outlets. So concludes the tenth edition of the “Reuters Digital News Report,” which is based on an online survey of 92,000 people in 46 media markets – representing the opinions of more than half of the world’s population, including, for the first time, countries such as India, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Colombia and Peru. The report, co-authored by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, determines that some media outlets benefited from the desire for reliable information during 2021, gaining greater reach and trust, and more subscribers.
The study also shows that the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated an evolution towards digital, social and mobile environments in the realm of news consumption, putting further economic pressure on publishers around the world. Overall, the report recalls, “the vast majority [of the population] is still not prepared to pay for online news,” while younger generations continue to rely on new ways to access news – such as social media – that are proving difficult for traditional companies to monetize.
More confidence
Confidence in the news has grown, on average, by six percentage points in the wake of the pandemic. Nearly half of respondents (44%) say they trust most of the news they consume, most of the time. This reverses, in part, the decreases in confidence in recent years regarding the media, returning to 2018 levels. Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall confidence (65%) and the United States the lowest (29%).
In several countries, “especially those with strong, independent public service media,” the report says, increased consumption of trusted news brands has been documented. The pattern is less clear, however, outside Western Europe, in countries where the crisis has less dominated the media agenda, or where other political and social issues have played a bigger role.
Disinformation and Covid-19
Concern about disinformation remains high, with 58% of the global sample expressing concern about what is true or false on the Internet when it comes to news. More respondents than in the previous year reported seeing more misinformation about the coronavirus than about any other topic, including politics. In that regard, they expressed growing concern about the role politicians play in spreading inaccurate or misleading information about Covid-19, followed by the roles of ordinary people, activists and journalists. Africa is the area with most concern about disinformation (74%), followed by Latin America (65%), North America (63%), Asia (59%) and Europe (54%).
When it comes to spreading false information about Covid-19 through online channels, respondents in many countries were especially concerned about the social network Facebook. However, in parts of the southern hemisphere, such as Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and Chile, respondents indicated that they are more concerned about closed messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. This is an especially relevant concern because false information on these channels tends to be less visible and harder to counter.
Greater economic pressure
The report documents how severely print publications have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, due to movement restrictions that affected sales and due to the impact associated with the drop in advertising revenues. Countries that have traditionally had high levels of circulation, such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, have seen some of the biggest declines, although this is accelerating the momentum towards digital subscriptions. In 20 countries where publishers have been actively promoting digital subscriptions, the report indicates that 17% of respondents paid for some form of online news in the past year (by subscription, donation or one-time payment). This figure represents an increase of two points in the last year and of five points since 2016.
Despite this, the report notes that the vast majority of consumers in these countries continue to rely on freely available sources and do not pay for any news online. In addition, most of those who do subscribe to a single medium. Generally, subscribers tend to be wealthier, older in age, and better educated, and tend to pay for a single online publication. “There is a pressing concern about what happens to those [citizens] who have limited interest or who cannot afford it.”
Most of the media’s success occurs in a limited group of rich countries with a long history of high levels of print newspaper subscriptions, such as Norway 45% (+3), Sweden 30% (+3), Switzerland 17% (+4), and the Netherlands 17% (+3). Currently, about one-fifth (21%) pay for at least one online news outlet in the United States, 20% in Finland and 13% in Australia. By contrast, only 9% say they pay in Germany and 8% in the UK.
According to Nielsen, “Subscriptions are beginning to work for some publishers but it won’t work for all publishers and most importantly, it won’t work for all consumers. Many people don’t wish to be tied to one or two news sites or apps, others don’t find the product worth the price. Given abundant access to free news, publishers will need to develop compelling options to bundle publications or more ways of paying a smaller amount for limited access for payment to become a mass phenomenon.”
The Digital News Report 2021 of the Reuters Institute (University of Oxford) can be found online at this link.
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen participated in the STI meeting entitled ‘The Crisis of Journalism Reconsidered: Cultural Power‘, held in Barcelona in May 2014.
