A Deep Look at News Avoidance

Media Cymru’s News for All project has worked with communities across Wales to understand why people avoid news (particularly in marginalized communities) and what newsrooms can do to address this. At the core of the consortium’s work are challenges to fundamental assumptions about news avoidance, and its new report, “The Story So Far,” encapsulates many of them. It finds that news avoiders are often passionate about their communities, rather than being apathetic; that they want to be informed deeply but see no way to achieve that through mainstream channels; that they often find their identities and beliefs misunderstood or misrepresented; and that they are open to alternative approaches to news, like solutions reporting and community building.