Every child knows (2)

René Worni on spoiled appetite aka news fatigue In the last article in this section, the thesis was ventured that every child has long known (in complete contrast to the publishers) that the commuting public is getting fed up with the flood of free papers. The thesis was also linked to an imperative that the Aargau publisher Peter Wanner should not spoil the appetite of his loyal AZ readers with free food, as Wanner's competitors in the Mittelland are already doing across the board. What children have known for a long time is now also highlighted by two studies, the results of which are briefly presented here. A study commissioned by the VÖZ (the Austrian Newspaper Association) entitled "Media qualities" comes to a clear conclusion: free newspapers cannot hold a candle to paid newspapers in terms of credibility, topicality and information - as we have always suspected. 88 percent of 4,300 respondents consider paid-for newspapers to be credible, whereas "only" 72 percent believe the free papers.
What might be the reason for this? The second study, commissioned by the Associated Press, sheds further light on the subject and also provides a life-threatening diagnosis for the news agency that commissioned the study: the frenzied flow of news not only produces news junkies en masse, but also their complete opposite: people who fall into a paralyzing lack of interest because they are constantly supplied with thin news snippets and left alone with their need for in-depth information. The researchers even observe the conditioning of a so-called Pavlovian link: at some point, the constantly failing information seeker learns to associate the term news directly with frustration. The result: news fatigue (as every child already knows). AP therefore wants to develop new methods to make it easier for media consumers to access in-depth information. In an almost revolutionary move for a news agency, AP recommends that the news media refrain from too frequent news updates.
> René Worni, Editor