Global news trends for 2024 revealed in Reuters report
And the programme editor of Channel 5 News reveals why they view all general election news through the eyes of Mabel, a fictional older lady leaving in the north east of England
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Monday 17 June.
**If you have yet to get your entry in for our Future of Media Awards, worry not - the deadline has been extended so we will still accept entries this week.**
For the Press Gazette team today is like Christmas and all our birthdays rolled into one. It's publication day for the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, a mammoth global survey providing the latest insights into news consumption trends around the world.
Themes highlighted in the report include the latest subscription trends, the rise of news influencers on social media and the ever-growing podcast market.
Ironically, one trend publishers appear to be ignoring is… ahem… news avoidance. The survey suggests a growing and significant minority now actively avoid the news.
This isn’t because people aren’t interested in the world around them, it’s because the way news is presented is stressing them out. The onus is on publishers to find ways to present the news which gives people agency and a reason to tune in. Readers and viewers feel less burdened by negative news if they feel there is something they can do about it.
Another important message from this year’s report is the fact that if you want to reach anyone under the age of 35 as a publisher, you need to have a great social media game because they are unlikely to be visiting your website or app as their first port of call for updates.
On a lighter note, trust in news is slightly up in the UK. Broadcasters lead the UK trust table (with the exception of GB News and TalkTV, which both rank near the bottom).
New from Press Gazette
Online news subscriptions stagnate amid jump in numbers saying they would never pay
The numbers paying for online news subscriptions are up from 10% in 2014 but last grew in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
From James O’Brien to Joe Rogan: Rise of news influencers and alternative voices
“In this year’s Digital News Report, we wanted to understand more about who these news influencers are, what type of ‘news’ they discuss, and what this means for wider society.”
News avoidance at record levels as four in ten ‘worn out’ by news
In the past year selective news avoidance has grown by three percentage points. The biggest increases were in Ireland (up by ten percentage points), Spain (+8pp), Italy (+7pp), Germany (+5pp), Finland (+5pp), the US (+5pp) and Denmark (+4pp).
US news trends 2024: Interest and trust in news slowly recovering
A majority of American respondents to the latest annual survey said they were “very” or “extremely” interested in the news, after the figure spent two years below 50% in 2022 and 2023.
ITN election diary: How to inform viewers when campaigns are ‘often pretty boring’
“For us, the election needs to fight its way into the running order in the same way every other story does; yes, we have a duty to inform our viewers; but we also have a duty not to bore them. And let’s face it, elections are often pretty boring. Until they’re not.”
Trust in news up slightly in UK but remains lower than global average
In the UK 36% of more than 2,000 survey respondents said they trust most news most of the time – up from 33% last year.
News diary 17 – 23 June: Question Time leaders’ special, Reform manifesto, Times CEO summit
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
Previously on Press Gazette
Sacked S4C boss loses privacy complaint over ‘signed off with stress’ story
Media manifestos 2024: Labour quiet on press regulation and media policy
Newspaper ABCs: Evening Standard distribution decline continues amid plan to drop daily paper
‘Devastating’ potential impact of Google AI Overviews on publisher visibility revealed
Bureau of Investigative Journalism in drive to diversify grant-led funding model
Google and publishers: An unpredictable animal that could eat you at any time
Latest podcast
Podcast 72: Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed on cracking a busy news podcast market
The Telegraph’s new daily news podcast, The Daily T, is the latest entrant to an increasingly crowded audio market.
But days after the show bagged the first election trail interview with Rishi Sunak, Press Gazette spoke with Daily T hosts Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed about how they’re hoping to stand out from the competition with a right-of-centre viewpoint they feel is missing and by leaning heavily on the Telegraph newsroom.