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- Wednesday 25th October: Americans are following the news less closely than they used to
Wednesday 25th October: Americans are following the news less closely than they used to
Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Peter.
There’s just over 6 weeks to go until Mx3 AI; a collaboration between Media Voices and Media Makers Meet. We’ll be featuring sessions on AI in local, national, consumer and B2B media, as well as discussions on innovation, developments and regulation.
Axios is reporting that, according to new polling from Gallup, American trust in media has fallen again to an historic low. Only 32% of the population reports having even "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence that the media reports the news in a full, fair and accurate way. And a record number of Americans (39%), say they don't trust the media at all.
Against that backdrop, it’s no wonder that the number of people following the news closely has also dropped. In 2016, 51% of U.S. adults said they followed the news all or most of the time; that fell to 38% in 2022. Analysis from Pew Research shows that alongside falls in trust, fragmented media consumption habits and news fatigue have exacerbated news avoidance in the US to record levels.
There are really no surprises in the numbers from Gallup or Pew, just another reminder of the mountain news organisations have to climb to restore trust and rebuild news consumption habits. And as Sara Fischer points out, these numbers were in before the chaos surrounding coverage of aspects of the Hamas-Israel war.
We know too well that news avoidance and a lack of trust in the media is a very present challenge, but what are you doing about it? Have you come across positive moves by other publishers? Let us know over on our community forum.
Ian Betteridge is writing on Substack about the eventual demise of SEO for publishers at the hands of Google’s AI-driven search and how we should be changing our content strategies to respond. This is a great intro to the implications of Search Generative Experience and offers some suggestions to mitigate them. Doubling down on newsletters is my favourite.
I remember the super-hype around the launch of ‘The Smith’s’ Semafor very clearly - it felt like months of build up before we saw any actual content. One year in, Jacob Donelly has been digging into the numbers and seems less skeptical about the startup than he once was. The change is based on strong performances in newsletters and events but he also says, “Semafor was attempting a strategy that was actually much more niche than it let on.”
Print’s back Baby! Well, at least in the limited-frequency end of the magazine market. Grazia has unveiled an all-new annual interiors special entitled Grazia CASA ‘packed with fashion insiders’ tips on how to decorate and deck out your home’. Seriously though, these type of launches are very much in line with a new audience-driven ‘intentionality’ around print that I absolutely love.
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