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I can't sleep, so here are a few random thoughts on the Reuters Institute Digital News Report for Ireland which came out today and had some good detail about how people are getting their news here #dnr20
Firstly, older people are not paying for their news! They have not developed the habit and there is no sign that they will (like younger people with newspapers). Just 6% of people over 55 in Ireland pay for news, compared with *24%* of people aged 25-34, who are more used to it
Online is the most popular way for people to get their news in Ireland (49%) with tv in second place (33%).
(The report actually has social media/blogs (!!!) and online as two different categories when it asks people how they get their news).
(The report actually has social media/blogs (!!!) and online as two different categories when it asks people how they get their news).
Personally, I'd be more interested in knowing how many people follow newsrooms on platforms and get the news without ever actually reading a story (e.g. through Insta, Snap, TikTok, Messenger) than how many use social for news, because that's such a blurred line for readers.
The amount of people who got some news from push notifications in the last week has *quadrupled* in the last five years (from a low base but I'd say it's still being underestimated tbh). Notifications are a silent battlefield for newsrooms: everyone's experience is so different.
(Push notifications are one of the only times in the newsroom where it's really hard to tell if readers actually like what you're doing or not, because the only metric you have - open rates - is quantitative, which is... not great)
People in Ireland trust their news *a lot*, with RTÉ leading the pack at 76%. For comparison, the most trusted news brand in the UK is the BBC at 64%, which would put it in joint 11th place in Ireland. But a note of caution here...
The % of people in 
who say they generally don't trust most news has grown from 21% to 27% in recent years, while the % who say they *do* trust most news has stayed stagnant. It's still far better than EU/UK/US! But something to watch for, especially given all the Covid misinfo
who say they generally don't trust most news has grown from 21% to 27% in recent years, while the % who say they *do* trust most news has stayed stagnant. It's still far better than EU/UK/US! But something to watch for, especially given all the Covid misinfo
63% of people in Ireland access news several times a day. The report warns this might drop as people reduce news usage for mental health reasons during Covid. May be wrong but suspect the opposite is true tbh. Huge appetite - and traffic - for news still, even though it is A Lot
A great point by @NiamhKirk: BuzzFeed News is the single biggest digital news brand for people aged 18-24 in Ireland - so where will they go now that its UK and Aus newsrooms shut down? Suspect they'll continue using BF. Hard to see an Irish competitor hoovering them all up.
This is just interesting. If a politician that makes a statement that could be false, 57% of people think the media should report it prominently so the public knows. Only 22% say the media should not emphasise the statement to avoid giving the politician unwarranted attention.
people think the media should report it prominently so the public knows. Only 22% say the media should not emphasise the statement to avoid giving the politician unwarranted attention.
There are loads more nuggets in it and it is well worth a read to get a sense of where news audiences are at in Ireland right now. Nice work by @BAItweets and @FuJoMedia in putting the report together. #dnr20
Full report is here: http://www.bai.ie/en/download/135006/
Full report is here: http://www.bai.ie/en/download/135006/
