Avoiding the News

What percentage of Europeans actively avoid the news?

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We already had a look at the percentage of Europeans that trusts the news. On this map, we’re going to look at the percentage of the population that actively avoids the news. There could of course be a link to the trust that people have in the news, but keep in mind that there are other reasons for people to avoid the news. Some people believe it is good for your mental health to actively avoid the news from time to time or even completely. The data on this map covers news consumers. So, it doesn’t include people that don’t have access to any news or media or never followed it to begin with. The people on this map are people that have access to the news, but choose consciously to avoid it at times.

A quick glance makes it look like there might be a correlation with the trust that people have in the news. This probably is the case for some countries, but also see some countries that largely trust the news, rank high on this map. 61% of people in Portugal trust the news (2nd highest in Europe), but 42% also actively avoids the news. Which is one of the highest rates in Europe. Ireland is a similar case.

Denmark and Finland are both in the top 3 of countries that trust the news the most and are also in the bottom 3 of countries where people actively avoid the news. We see the same on the other end. Most countries in southern and eastern Europe have low trust in the news. But they also have some of the highest rates of people actively avoiding the news. In Bulgaria, Turkey and Croatia, more than 50% of the people actively avoid the news.

This data comes from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report.