By the NZ Science Media Centre with additional reporting by Lyndal Byford at the AusSMC
NZ research has found that around 60% of Kiwis avoid the news at least some of the time, and those with far-left or far-right political beliefs are more likely to avoid the news than those with centrist views. In Australia, we're not fairing much better.
While general interest in the news is high across the ditch in Aotearoa, trust has been steadily declining, and the new research found that 60% of New Zealanders avoid the news sometimes, often, or almost always.
"The major reason driving news avoidance appears to be the negative effect that news has on mood," said Dr Alex Beattie of Victoria University in Wellington, who led the research.
"Women and people with far-left or far-right political beliefs were more likely to select this reason than men or those with centrist views. Additionally, people with right-wing beliefs were more likely to report avoiding the news due to perceptions of untrustworthiness or bias."
Here in Australia, the latest Digital News Report from the University of Canberra suggests that while Australia is bucking the global trend with a relatively stable interest in news, news avoidance in Australia is at around 68%.
Dr Helen Sissons, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at AUT, told the NZ SMC that people may avoid news that "challenges their beliefs or makes them uncomfortable."
"Someone skeptical of climate change might ignore a well-researched, factual story on the topic, dismissing it as false and turning to other sources for information. And unlike in the past when people had fewer media options, there are now many alternatives," she said.
Dr Beattie said that many young people don't go out of their way to avoid the news, but many in the NZ survey said they did not have time for it, which may be linked to the overwhelming amount of online content available to them.
"Young people think that the news finds them. That if the story is of note it will come to them via the algorithm, which is of course problematic," he told RNZ.
The Australian Digital News Report also found that there has been a sharp increase in the number of Australians expressing ‘news fatigue’. Since 2019, the report found there has been a 13 percentage point increase in those saying they are worn out by the volume of news, and it is especially prevalent among social media news users.
University of Auckland's Dr Ethan Plaut said that the problem of news avoidance has been exacerbated by an American style of political communication.
"This is the Trumpian strategy, sometimes called “flooding the zone,” of overwhelming both journalists and citizens with incessant provocation and distraction, breaking so many things so quickly, and so loudly, that nobody can figure out what’s most important," he said.
"By the time anybody musters a thoughtful argument about whatever was announced yesterday, the news cycle has already moved on."
You can read the NZ SMC Expert Reaction here
This article originally appeared in Science Deadline, a weekly newsletter from the AusSMC. You are free to republish this story, in full, with appropriate credit.
Contact: Lyndal Byford
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