The Facts

In this section you can learn more about ‘why’ we work with constructive journalism. Here we present to you the key facts that underline the need for new ways of doing journalism.

Digital News Report

The world’s biggest ongoing news survey. In 2019 surveying 75,000 respondents across 40 countries and 6 continents.

the 2019 report

The 2019 report was written “against the backdrop of rising populism, political and economic instability, along with intensifying concerns about giant tech companies and their impact on society.”

watch the video

Watch the 3 minute animated video below to get an overview of the key findings from the Digital News Report 2019. Courtesy of Reuters Institute.

Reuters Digital News Report for 2020

The Reuters Institute launched its Digital News Report earlier this year. Though the report focuses less on the drivers of news avoidance than 2019 we noted these two findings

In the January poll across countries, less than four in ten (38%) said they trust most news most of the time – a fall of four percentage points from 2019. Less than half (46%) said they trust the news they use themselves. Political polarisation linked to rising uncertainty seems to have undermined trust in public broadcasters in particular, which are losing support from political partisans from both the right and the left.

However

As of April 2020, trust in the media’s coverage of COVID-19 was relatively high in all countries, at a similar level to national governments and significantly higher than for individual politicians. Media trust was more than twice the level for social networks, video platforms, or messaging services when it came to information about COVID-19

Findings of 2019

39% of respondents say the news media is often too negative
32% said they avoid the news often or sometimes.
For those that avoid the news 48% say the reason is that “It can have a negative impact on my mood”
28% say “I don’t feel there is anything I can do about it”

Read 2019 Report

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of Reuters Institute and Professor of Political Communication, University of Oxford

Go to Reuters Institute’s Reports

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The Facts

Gapminder

Almost nobody knows the basic global facts! Gapminder is an independent Swedish foundation which fights misconceptions about global development with facts.

The Facts

Perils of Perception

The Perils of Perception surveys’ highlights how wrong people are about key global issues and features of the population in their country and you can even test yourself.