Germans are significantly less interested in news; only 57 per cent of adult internet users are still interested in information about current affairs. That is ten percentage points less than last year. The decline is most visible in the group of 18 to 24 year-olds, in which only 31 per cent are interested in news, which is 19 percentage points less. At the same time, the percentage of those who at least occasionally try to avoid the news rises to 65 per cent. Topic fatigue, causing a bad mood and exhaustion due to the vast amount of information are the main reasons for this. In addition, young people in particular do not perceive news as important or useful to them personally.

Read More

A nationwide study by the #UseTheNews project reveals a deep information gap in the upcoming generation: about half of the young people do not consider it important to be informed about news and current events. At the same time, they are significantly less informed than their peers who also regularly use journalistic news sources. However, journalistic offers are only one of many sources of the information they use. These are the results of the #UseTheNews study “News Usage and News Literacy in the Digital Age”, initiated by the dpa and the Hamburg Ministry for Culture and Media. The study was conducted by the Leibniz Institute for Media Research. The results were presented and discussed today at the Mediendialog Hamburg [Media Dialogue Hamburg].

Read More