Online news takes off in US and UK while most Germans prefer a newspaper

The University of Oxford has launched a major study to examine how the digital revolution is changing the way we access news. Among the first findings published today, it shows that of those surveyed, most Germans still prefer a newspaper. Meanwhile, online news has overtaken print and TV news as the most frequently used medium in the UK and US for those using computers, mobile phones and tablets for news. One in five people in the UK now shares news stories every week through social networks or e-mail. However, the report also suggests out of the five countries studied, consumers in the UK were the most resistant to the idea of paying for online news.

Key international findings

•There are significant differences in how regularly people keep up with the news across our surveyed countries. More than 9 in 10 Germans access the news at least once a day compared with only 3 in 4 people in the United Kingdom.

•The rapid switch from print to digital in the United States is not being replicated exactly in European countries. Germany is showing the strongest allegiance to traditional viewing and reading habits and has the lowest levels of internet news use.

•In the UK, news about politics is perceived to be less important – and celebrity news more important – compared to the other countries surveyed.

•There is more interest in business and especially economic news in the UK and the US than in the European countries surveyed.

One in five of our UK sample (20%) share news stories each week via email or social networks – but in general Europe lags behind the United States in both the sharing of news and other forms of digital participation.

 

Read the report here:  http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/publications/risj-digital-report.html