More and more Swiss are avoiding the news
Three percent less than last year and ten percent less than before the pandemic in 2019: The number of people who actively avoid news at least some of the time is increasing, according to the Reuters Digital News Report.
More and more people in Switzerland are actively avoiding the news. According to a new report, 36 percent of Swiss people do not consume news at least some of the time. This is three percentage points more than last year, according to the Reuters Digital News Report published on Monday. Compared to before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, this is an increase of ten percentage points. The figures for Switzerland were compiled by the Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society at the University of Zurich (Fög).
More news avoiders among the women
Swiss people with a lower level of education tend to avoid news more than those with a medium or higher level of education. The proportion of so-called news avoiders is also higher among women (39 percent) than men (33 percent). There are also differences in age: Around a third of people under 25 and over 55 stated that they often or occasionally avoid news, while the proportion was higher in the age group in between. According to the report, an important reason for avoiding the news is the large amount of information available.
Decline in interest
Interest in news has also declined in Switzerland over the long term. In 2024, 48% of respondents said they were very interested in news. This was two percentage points more than in 2023, but eleven percentage points less than in 2016.
In the Digital News Report, various aspects of media use are recorded annually on the basis of a representative population survey in several countries. In Switzerland, over 2000 people were surveyed. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford is responsible. (SDA)
