Too much news and no news at all

Got to say, I agree with this:

Four in 10 people in Ireland say they are “worn out by the amount of news there is these days”, with women and people aged 25-44 most likely to report news fatigue.

Some 44 per cent of people also say that they “often or sometimes” actively avoid the news, up 10 percentage points on the number of people who said they did a year ago.

These are among the findings of a survey of more than 2,000 people in Ireland conducted as part of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s global digital news report.

There’s so much of it. Granted so much is happening. It’s a target rich environment. But, in recent years I’ve made a conscious effort to look at less, particularly at weekends. And while the local and European elections were fascinating I’m glad that’s over. That genuinely was too much – and to judge from hits on the site during and after most of us feel the same way. Which is entirely normal. 

I’ve cut out a lot of television news in recent years – social media is largely gone for news. Which leaves just large scale outlets. Anyone else has this general profile of media consumption?

I’m surprised by this:

Meanwhile, more than half of media consumers say they are uncomfortable with news being produced “mostly by AI” with only “some human oversight”.

Only more than half? 

The thing there is that one has to wonder what constitutes ‘news’ in this context? Wouldn’t AI function more like an aggregator – because it surely isn’t going to be out there chasing down stories, or going to press conferences, or asking questions. 

Here’s a counterintuitive response – at least if one consider the narrative put forward by parts of the media (on reflection the print media!).

RTÉ, which is trusted by 72.4 per cent, up from 71 per cent – which FuJo said was “particularly notable” given the corporate governance scandal at the broadcaster over the past year – and The Irish Times on 72 per cent, up 2 percentage points.

As for traditional print media, how’s this?

The willingness of Irish consumers to pay for news content has also increased, with 17 per cent now doing so, up from 15 per cent last year. Among those who subscribe to a news provider, The Irish Times was the most popular choice, selected by 38 per cent, with the Irish Independent next on 33 per cent.