Election, war in Ukraine, Covid-19 pandemic, yellow vests… These major crises or events, not always very encouraging, blacken pages and pages of newspapers, agitate journalists in front of microphones and/or cameras. According to a large annual survey conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, sponsored by the University of Oxford, in the face of this turbulent news, citizens seem to have less confidence in what is reported by the media, the youngest do not consult them and some are completely or partially uninterested in this sad news.
The Reuters Institute revealed on June 15 the survey results carried out by the YouGov institute on the Internet in 46 countries on 6 continents, with samples of approximately 2,000 people each time. The online questionnaire was distributed in late January, early February, before the outbreak of war in Ukraine. As every year since 2014, date of the first consultations of the Oxford research unit, there is good for the media and especially less good.
Netflix lays off 300 more employees
The Reuters Institute, not to be confused with the eponymous news agency, points to a misleading media situation. At first glance, the press situation appears to be in an excellent phase after several years of sluggishness. The large groups, the media qualified as ” top of the line are the first to benefit. Looking at the numbers from The Alliance for Press and Media Figures (ACPM) this phenomenon is revealed perfectly in the French case, paid distribution shows double-digit growth for Release (18.47%) and The world (13.50%) in 2021. The election years being particularly interesting for the media, this dynamic should continue at least in the beginning of 2022. This good news for the press is however quickly put into perspective by the institute which observes that interest in news and overall news consumption has fallen dramatically in many countries, while trust has plummeted almost everywhere “.
The public is tired of bad news
The decline in interest in current affairs highlighted by the Reuters Institute is above all a form of information fatigue. Of all the 46 countries where the survey was conducted, this interest in current affairs fell from 63% in 2017 to 51% in 2022. These very general results are based on surveys which the French have learned to be wary during presidential and legislative elections. Another survey of the media, specifically French, the Media Barometer 2022 from The cross, reference on the credibility of the media since 1987 gave different (and slightly more reassuring) figures. Carried out by Kantar and Onepoint, with approximately 1,000 individuals met in person by the pollsters, it estimates that 62% follow the news with more or less interest and 38% are disinterested in it to varying degrees.
The figures from La Croix are reassuring… Credit: Kantar / Onepoint. / The cross
Whether the results of The cross or the Reuters Institute, it is nonetheless worrying. Researchers from the British university put forward several hypotheses to explain this fall. He notes the existence of a younger audience very present online, but disconnected from information, potentially less educated. They also see a manifestation of structural changes in the distribution of information on the Internet.
Behind these theories, the YouGov survey highlights another practice, intentional avoidance. ” We find that many are also increasingly choosing to ration or limit their exposure to news, or at least certain types of news. “. This selection is linked to a weariness with the omnipresence of certain subjects, on the Covid or politics for example, this is the case in 43%, in 36% of the answers, in particular among the youngest, this strategy of The purpose of avoidance is to preserve oneself from a loss of morale, finally there is a feeling of helplessness, lack of confidence… Some media try to appear slightly less anxiety-provoking, by offering positive reports or solution journalism , but the news remains the news notes the Reuters Institute, “ The Ukraine crisis, and before it the COVID-19 pandemic, have reminded people of the value of accurate and fair reporting, as close to the truth as possible, but we also see that the damning and depressing nature of the news, the feelings of helplessness and toxic online debates turn many people away – temporarily or permanently.you”.
The lack of trust in the media is widening
This weariness is also largely fueled by a lack of trust in the media. Measuring trust is a delicate exercise, very sensitive to the vagaries of current events. Major events in the life of a democratic country, such as an election period, war on the continent or others can cause this feeling to rise or fall. According to the study conducted by YouGov, the United Kingdom, the United States and France have all been through crises that have negatively impacted confidence in the media, respectively Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the crisis of the yellow vests. The Covid-19 pandemic, almost counterintuitively, as it has given rise to the emergence of conspiracy theories, has rather improved the image of citizens for the media, particularly in France.
Trust in the media in various countries plagued by different life-changing events. Credit: Reuters Institute
Nevertheless, the rate of trust in the media in France remains very low, 29% of those questioned said they could believe the news most of the time. This figure places the country in 41st place out of 46 and is down 10% since 2015. It remains above the United States, but far from Finland (69%), Portugal (61%) or South Africa (61%). Only 21% of French people think that the media are free from all political influences and 19% from all economic influences.
The fear of seeing the media influenced by politics in Europe. Credit: Reuters Institute
Here too, the Barometer of The cross gives slightly more encouraging results for the hexagon. According to him, 24% of French people trust the Internet for information, 44% for TV, 49% for the press and radio.
Radio is historically the medium in which the French have the most faith. Like other countries in North-Western Europe or in Australia and Canada, public service broadcasting figures prominently among the institutions that citizens trust most for obtaining reliable information. In these countries their independence is recognized, however the Reuters Institute observes that they are ” under increasing pressure in a number of countries, with attacks on funding, questions about impartiality “.
The public service enjoys the confidence of the French. Credit: Reuters Institute
France is affected by these issues. During the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron promised the abolition of the audiovisual license fee from 2022. The unions of France television, financed by this fee of 138 euros, contest “ This decision, taken without any prior consultation and without any credible alternative path having been developed “. Some fear that it will affect the independence of French public broadcasting by putting it more directly at the mercy of a government’s budgetary decisions. He says it won’t.
Alongside the radio, television retains an important place, particularly in France, but unsurprisingly the smartphone is gradually establishing itself as the first device for accessing information. This is the case for 47% of those under 35 and 28% of older people. Once on your smartphone, social networks become a gateway to news, mainly in written form. For the first time since the Reuters Institute study has existed, they have moved ahead of direct access to the media site or applications, ” Across all devices, our data shows that direct access to apps and websites is becoming less important over time and social media is growing in importance, not least because of its ubiquity and convenience. “.
Twitter, the favorite platform of journalists, politicians and other communicators, is less popular in the eyes of the general public by attracting, in Europe only 9% of people questioned have used it to find information. Facebook dominates all of the markets competing with YouTube in Asia (43%-42%). The video platform is well established in second place, except in Africa and Latin America where it is overtaken in the first and tied in the second with WhatsApp, from the Meta group. Among the youngest, aged 18 to 24, unsurprisingly, TikTok dominates with, depending on geographical areas, a strong emergence of Telegram is noticeable.
The social networks used to get informed the week of the survey. Credit: Reuters Institute
Although social networks have established themselves as a gateway to information, a majority of citizens (54%) fear being exposed to fake news and being fooled. Those who mainly use social networks to get information, 61%, are suspicious. Those who do not use them or use them a little less (48%).
The problem with media funding
The digitization of information consumption practices will surprise no one. However, several indicators are considered worrying by the Reuters Institute. The latter notes that the media, apart from a few big names, are struggling to renew their audience. The average age of digital subscribers is 47 on average. Of all the countries studied, only 17% of respondents say they pay for at least one digital subscription, in France this figure is 11%. The Reuters Institute fears that paid subscriptions will have to suffer from the coming crisis, that it will be sacrificed in the face of the increase in the cost of living due to current inflation. Nevertheless, the authors of the study nuance, one of the advantages of having an older audience is that they potentially have more income and are better able to not have to sacrifice a paid subscription, to be stable with a low termination rate.
In the absence of a paid subscription, publishers rely on advertising. Unfortunately, behemoths like Facebook or Google suck up these revenues for the digital part, which is destined to become dominant for the media. In the European Union, a directive on the right related to copyright allows publishers to claim part of these revenues from the major platforms. That’s enough…
The Reuters Institute offers another solution, with the end of third-party cookies, undermined by Apple and promised by Google, the media could use the data collected on their site to find an additional source of remuneration. This induces high confidence in its institutions… Out of the entire panel, only 32% say they are convinced that news sites will use their data responsibly, in France this figure is only 19%. According to the Reuters Institute the “ “social natives”, who have reached adulthood in the last five or ten years, are much less likely to visit a traditional news site or pay for news online – and they are often hesitant to share their data “. A very bad news for the hexagonal titles. The media have had their work cut out to convince young people to stay informed about the world in which they live.