The recently concluded 2022 Digital News Report highlighted the U.S. as having the least-trusted media in the world.
The report found that 29 percent of respondents avoid the news because it cannot be trusted. News trust in the U.S. also spiraled further down by three percent and remained at the bottom place with only 26 percent. (Related: Trust in the ‘mainstream’ media continues to collapse amid a torrent of fake news and fabricated narratives.)
"Interest remained high during the Trump years but seems to have declined significantly since Joe Biden became president. Today, less than half of our sample (47 percent) say they are very or extremely interested in the news compared with 67 percent in 2015," Ric Newman, senior research associate, wrote in the study overview.
The study's eleventh edition, conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, is based on data from six continents and 46 markets. Only about 42 percent expressed trust in most news. It also stated that trust in the news plummeted in almost half the countries and rose in just seven, partly reversing the gains made at the height of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The report, which aims to provide an understanding of how differently the news environment operates outside the U.S. and Europe, tapped a more global sample by including several other countries.
In nations like the U.K., Argentina, Brazil and Spain, interest in news had been on a downward trend for some time. Meanwhile, trust toward the news in Finland stayed at the highest levels at 69 percent.
While the majority remain very engaged, others are turning away from the news media – and in some cases, disconnecting from news altogether. Interest in the news has fallen sharply across markets, from 63 percent in 2017 to 51 percent in 2022.
People are tired of hearing the news
The paper also observed that interest in news and overall news consumption has declined in many countries, with news fatigue being noticed. Selective news avoidance also turned out to be rampant around the world.
While the majority of people across countries still use the news regularly, many also limit their exposure to it or at least to certain types of news.
"This is not just around COVID-19 but around politics and a range of other subjects, with the number of people actively avoiding news increasing markedly," the study stated.
Respondents mentioned different reasons for avoiding the news, with 43 percent saying they are put off by the repetitiveness of the news agenda, especially regarding politics and COVID-19.
Meanwhile, 29 percent said they often feel worn out by the news. Thirty-six percent, particularly those aged 35 and below, said the news brings down their mood. Seventeen percent said the news leads to arguments they would rather avoid, while 16 percent said watching the news leads to feelings of powerlessness.
"I actively avoid things that trigger my anxiety and things that can have a negative impact on my day. I will try to avoid reading news about things like deaths and disasters," a 27-year-old male respondent from the U.K. stated.
The report further mentioned that 14 percent do not have enough time for news, and eight percent said that it is too hard to understand.
According to Newman, American respondents whose political views lean right are far more likely to avoid the news because they think it is untrustworthy or biased. Those on the left do so because they are more likely to feel overwhelmed, carry feelings of powerlessness or worry that the news might create arguments.
Watch the video below that talks about mainstream news media refusing to report on vaccine protests.
This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Poll finds only 10% of Americans trust media on COVID, 30% trust Fauci.
More Americans trust President Trump than the discredited fake news 'mainstream' media.
Sources include:
ReutersInstitute.Politics.ox.ac.uk
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