According to the latest Digital News Report 2019 from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, no.
The study is the culmination of a major research project, which was based on an online survey of 75,000 people across 38 different countries, and 6 continents.
Despite the fact that more people than ever are worried about misinformation and fake news – and thus turning to reputable sources of information –, they seem no more inclined to pay for this good information.
The study reported findings that, across all countries, the average level of trust in the news in general is down to 42% (presumably versus a previous similar report), and that less than half(49%) of people agree that the news they themselves use is trustworthy!
It is also important to point out that the study did not itself describe what a ‘reputable’ journalist source was – what constitutes a reputable source of information was left to the respondents to determine for themselves
This is a really interesting finding of the general public’s cognitive dissonance; while they are skeptical about the information they hear, and want assurance of good journalism with accurate information, they are not willing to pay the subscription fees of the big online news media in order to get this assurance.
And the study found that, of those who do pay, they tend to only pay for ONE subscription, so ultimately one news media will have that ‘winner takes all’ feeling. One possible explanation for this is the ‘subscription fatigue’ of media nowadays –subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, HBO etc. take precedence over news subscriptions, and so while people might subscribe to multiple ‘entertainment’ sources, they will only subscribe to one news source.
It was also interesting to note – the study found that the news media are seen as doing a better job at ‘breaking news’ than actually explaining it. Across countries, almost two-thirds feel the media are good at keeping people up-to-date (62%) but feel they are less good at helping them to understand the news.
The report co-author Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen says: “The good news is that those publishers who produce truly distinct, valuable, and trusted journalism are increasingly being rewarded with commercial success. The bad news is that many people find that much of the journalism they come across is neither valuable, trustworthy, or worth paying for.”
You can find the full report here.
What do you think of these new findings? How many news subscriptions do you pay for? Let us know in the comments!
