News Habits
The sample seems to mainly obtain news from websites, at a rate of 37%, mostly composed by those belonging to younger age groups: 46% of those aged 17-34 and 44% of those aged 35-54 say that they mainly prefer digital news. Radio and TV (31%) are next in the public’s preference for obtaining news, with the percentage of preference in this case being dominated by those aged 55 and over –TV and radio are the main source of news for 50% of this age group. Of the total sample, 24% respond that they are mainly informed through social media, which is the second most preferred source of news for the 17-34 age group (38.5%). Only 6% of the public prefer print media, increasing to 11.5% when studying only respondents aged 55 and over, and decreasing to around 3% for younger respondents.
The sample also appears to diversify in terms of preferences, when the analysis is specified by level of education and by declared political position, on the Left-Right political spectrum: In particular, almost six in ten postgraduate/doctoral degree holders prefer websites as their main source of news, a percentage considerably higher than the corresponding proportions of those who have graduated from other levels of education. TV and radio are the most popular media among those who identify themselves politically with the Center-Right and the Right (42% and 41% respectively), compared to those who say they belong politically to the Center or the Left. For those who say that the Left-Right spectrum does not represent them politically, websites are also the main source of news (38%).
One in two (52%) never buys newspapers or other print media, while 21% “go to the newsagent” once a month or less. 16.5% respond that they buy print media about one to three times a month, while 6% state that they do so more often than once a week. A mere 4.5% buy newspapers or other print media on a daily basis.
The vast majority of the public (90%) do not have an active subscription to a newspaper or other print media, nor to a website with subscription content. 9% responded positively that they do maintain a subscription.
37% state that when they obtain news from websites, they go directly to the ones they have chosen to read, while 34% say that they “end up” on the websites from which they obtain news after using a search engine on the topic of interest. 17% respond that they spot the website news from social media.
“Somewhere in the middle” is the answer given by 43.5% of respondents to the question whether they trust more news they hear from their family/social circle or from the media. 39% say they trust the media the most. On the contrary, 14.5% trust their social circle more.