Covid bump turns to Covid slump as Irish people’s interest in the news wanes

The percentage of people in Ireland who say they are “extremely interested” or “very interested” in the news has dropped to 57 per cent, down from 70 per cent a year ago. Researchers say the “distinct fall” may be explained by Covid fatigue.

Smartphones, meanwhile, have become the first device that most news consumers reach for to access news in the morning, overtaking radio for the first time, according to the survey of more than 2,000 Irish people conducted in January and February as part of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s annual digital news report.

Interest in the news among Irish respondents remains notably stronger than it is across the EU as a whole, where the average interest level is 49 per cent. It is also above that recorded in North America (47 per cent) and the UK (43 per cent).

Although these regions have all seen news interest levels slip over the past year, the decline in Ireland is the starkest, an analysis by Dublin City University’s FuJo Institute concludes, and may be the result of people being “weary of the pandemic’s dominance of the news agenda”.

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Last year’s study had recorded a “Covid bump”, with news interest levels rising five percentage points from 65 per cent. This has now been replaced by a “Covid slump”. While 83 per cent of people in the 2022 study said they access news at least once a day, some 41 per cent said they “often or sometimes” avoid the news, up nine percentage points from 2019.

The most common reason cited was “too much coverage of subjects like politics/coronavirus”, followed by news “having a negative effect on my mood”.

The Irish report, sponsored by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and part of the 46-country Reuters Institute study, states that 18- to 24-year-olds – the upper age band of the generation known as Gen Z – are the most disinterested in news, least engaged with news brands and most likely, along with 24- to 34-year-olds, to avoid news.

“While the 2021 report showed a surge of interest in news media, 2022 finds a world exhausted after two years of the pandemic and its dominance of the news agenda. Interest in news generally is down on last year, as is trust in media, but both are still relatively high in Ireland,” said Prof Colleen Murrell of FuJo, the lead researcher on the Irish report.

“The challenge here is for news brands to figure out how to engage younger audiences – a generation that has grown up in a world where algorithms cater to their individual interests.”

Some 52 per cent said they “tend to agree” or “strongly agree” with the statement “you can trust most of the news most of the time”. This was on par with last year’s figure of 53 per cent and compares to an EU average of 42 per cent and a trust level of 34 per cent in both the UK and North America.

RTÉ was identified as the “most trusted news brand” with 74 per cent saying they trusted it, while The Irish Times was second with 71 per cent, ahead of local and regional radio on 70 per cent, local and regional newspapers on 69 per cent and BBC News also on 69 per cent.

There was a “general decline” in trust evident across all news brands, despite overall trust in the news media remaining steady, with the figures for 2022 “more in line with pre-pandemic figures” having increased last year.

The share of respondents who said they paid for an online news subscription remained steady at 16 per cent. Among individual brands, The Irish Times was first, with 39 per cent of all online subscribers saying they had signed up to it, while the Irish Independent was second on 28 per cent.

Smartphones are now the “go to” device for accessing news in the morning for 35 per cent of respondents, ahead of radio on 31 per cent, television on 15 per cent, the internet via a computer or tablet on 11 per cent and printed newspapers on 3 per cent.

There are significant differences in age groups, with 46 per cent of the 18-24 cohort turning first to the smartphone compared to only 19 per cent of people aged 65-plus. Among this older group, 46 per cent still turned on the radio first thing in the morning, while radio was also most likely to be the first point of access for 55- to 64-year-olds.

Podcast listening has increased among the older millennial and Gen X age groups, but it is highest among 25- to 34-year-olds, with 67 per cent having listened to one in the past month. Podcast consumption was second highest among 18- to 24-year-olds at 65 per cent.

Television was named as the main source of news overall, cited by 35 per cent. This is down from 41 per cent on the 2021 study, when it had increased eight percentage points, which FuJo analysts predicted at the time was likely a Covid lockdown blip.

Despite its fall, television came in ahead of online (excluding social media) on 32 per cent and social media on 18 per cent as a main source of news. Follow-up research by the Reuters Institute conducted in March and early April in five sample countries – Poland, Germany, the UK, the US and Brazil – also found that television was the preferred medium for news about the Russia-Ukraine war in each of the five.

“Given the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation across Europe, most recently in relation to the war in Ukraine, understanding trends in news and media plurality continues to be of critical importance,” said BAI chief executive Celene Craig.

“It is heartening to see that trust in news in Ireland remains high, with more than half of those surveyed here agreeing that they can trust news most of the time.”