Insights

Publishers and broadcasters across the world are recording huge increases in traffic and viewers during the coronavirus pandemic. The BBC News website alone went from 15 million unique users to 30 million.

And the reason for this flight to news brands, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism? Trust.

The institute, which is based at Oxford University, surveyed 80,000 regular people in 40 countries about their attitudes and habits around news. They spoke to them before and during the Covid outbreak.

They found that in addition to trust in news organisations’ coverage being high – as high as any government’s – it was twice as high as their trust in information on social media platforms and YouTube.

Half of people trust the news they chose and from brands they know. But only 32% trusted it from search, like Google, and 22% from social media, like Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook is seen as the main channel for spreading false information almost everywhere

Nic Newman, report author

It was even lower in the US: 31% trusted news from search and only 14% from social media.

The full report can be read here but I hope they won’t mind me pulling out some of their graphics which neatly illustrate the gulf between named news brands people seek out, and links on tech platforms.

In fact, concern about MISinformation is growing.

“Facebook is seen as the main channel for spreading false information almost everywhere,” the report concluded.

In the US, Europe, UK and Australia particularly, readers are most concerned about the safety of the news they read on Facebook.

The report found a growth in the paywall/subscription model at specialist and national end of the market.

But it appears the advertising-funded model is here to stay for the majority of publishers.

Researchers asked people if they did not pay for news, what would it take to persuade them to do so.

A high percentage – 50% in UK, 40% in US – said nothing could persuade them: they expected to get it free.

There is rarely a fast-moving news event that is truly global and you’d think getting out of lockdown would look fairly similar across the world.

Think again.

I was pulling together videos showing “first steps out of lockdown” and it revealed nations are doing it in ways which, well, are so them.

The first thing sun-kissed Californians did when their “stay in place” order was lifted was to grab their surf boards and head to the re-opened beaches. Of course they did.

In sensible Finland, they got their kids back to school.

In Spain, the ramblas were again filled with busy tables as cafes reopened, while in neighbouring Italy, queues were round the block for beauty salons.

Parisiens, who during one of the strictest lockdowns had to explain themselves to gendarmes every time they left home, took to their bikes and running paths with gay abandon.

In football-mad Germany, the Budesliga restarted in empty stadiums to the delight of fans, not just in Germany.

In the UK, we opened garden centres. 

In trendy Seoul, there were huge queues outside Chanel ahead of expected price rises as the economic impact of the virus bites. 

In India, where a tough lockdown persists, the only easing has been the opening of liquor shops to non-socially-distanced near riots.

Haircuts have been a major preoccupation in many countries, and in New Zealand restrictions on barbers were among the first to be eased. Australia re-opened its coffee shops first. After their surfing beaches, naturally. 

International news organisations shared reports from Bangkok showing cat cafes and dog pampering salons opening. They’re very cute, but I’m willing to bet Thais also wanted restaurants and hairdressers to open too. 

Really, everyone affected by coronavirus is waiting for the big one, the true return to normal.

And that video will look exactly the same everywhere – when grandparents get to hug their grandchildren again. 

The top question when you start to type in “What is…” in the UK, where I live is: What is coronavirus? Never underestimate how simple the information readers are seeking.

Here’s my cut-out-and-keep list of explainers on Covid-19 from Oovvuu partners. They are updated as the virus story progresses and there will be new questions to be answered, but the key to all of them is simplicity. They’re clear, informative and shareable.