Analysts have begun to dig in to the treasure trove of data contained in the newest Digital News Report, released by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University last week.
Some interesting analysis about so-called ‘selective news avoidance’ was produced by INMA. This phenomenon is where people avoid news that will depress them of make they feel as though it will create arguments.
Another interesting conclusion comes when this phenomenon is considered in the context of personalization algorithms used by social media companies that feed users more content they find engaging. The research indicates that users are less likely to engage with hard news in these kind of environments.
The Reuters report notes that “those who often avoid the news are twice as likely to say they see too much news on both Facebook and Twitter when compared with the average user.”
