Seeing something positive in the pandemic is generally not easy. Deprivation, damage and consequences were and are too great, both medically, psychologically and economically. For the news media, however, according to the consensus at the launch of the Reuters Digital News Report on Wednesday, the crisis could also help.
The Digital News Report is the world’s most comprehensive news usage report. It is compiled annually by the Reuters Institute, a research facility at Oxford University in the UK. The current report dealt in particular with the question of what impact the corona pandemic had on the global news industry in the past year. According to this, the use of television and online media increased, while the use of print products continued to decline following the trend over the years, which in connection with lockdowns also had to do with the more difficult delivery of newspapers.
The lead author of the study, Nic Newman, saw reason for hope in the global increase in trust in the media in 2021. In Germany, around 53 percent of adult users said they trust the news in general – eight percentage points more than in the previous year. In countries with strong and independent public service media such as Germany, the United Kingdom and Norway, the use of these familiar media brands has also increased.
Online media in particular noticed increased demand
The crisis has accelerated trends in the news market. The interest in news is particularly noticeable among younger target groups and is also expressed in increasing digital subscriptions. This is what senior media makers from Europe (from the BBC, the Financial Times, El Pais and the Süddeutsche Zeitung) in an online discussion after the presentation of the report. Nonetheless, the media around the world struggled with financing problems, which are mainly related to dwindling advertising and advertising customers, and in the case of print media, also with a falling circulation.
The increased interest in the news media was, according to the report, strongly tied to major events. Online media in particular noticed an increased demand for information depending on the severity of the corona pandemic. The US election also led to increased use of the news. In the United States, however, interest in news media declined again after Joe Biden’s election, especially among that section of the public that is politically more right-wing.
Concerns about false information increased slightly this year, in Germany 37 percent expressed concerns about not being able to distinguish possible false reports on the Internet from facts – in Brazil it was 82 percent. 46 percent of those surveyed in Germany saw misinformation on the subject of Corona within a week.
This year’s results are based on surveys in 46 countries, including six new ones with India, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Colombia and Peru. In total, more than 74,000 people were surveyed for the Reuters Digital News Report in January and early February 2021.