Negative news more likely to be shunned by Left-wingers

Left-wing readers are more likely to avoid nasty stories in their newspaper, research has found

Surveys of 93,000 people in 46 counties found the UK public is more prone to avoiding unpleasant current affairs than newspaper readers and television viewers in many other countries.

Left-wing audiences are particularly prone to avoiding nasty news that can affect their mood, research by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found.

It said: “Concerns about the news having a negative effect on their mood are higher among avoiders in the United Kingdom (55 per cent) and United States (49 per cent) than they are elsewhere.”

People avoiding “triggers” in news articles are more likely to be Left-wing, the study found, with research stating: “Political allegiances can also make a striking difference to why people choose to avoid news.”

The Reuters report said: “Those on the Left are more likely to feel overwhelmed, carry feelings of powerlessness.”

It found that those who identify as being on the Right were likely to avoid news because they believe it to be “untrustworthy or biased”, rather than having a negative emotional impact.

Nic Newman, a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute and the leading author of the report, said: “Subjects that journalists consider most important, such as political crises, international conflicts and global pandemics, seem to be precisely the ones that are turning some people away.”

Some demographics are also finding their information in new and less challenging ways, with those aged between 18 and 24 increasingly turning online to Tiktok for takes on current affairs.