Does a crisis change news habits? A comparative study of the effects of COVID-19 on news media use in 17 European countries

Author(s)
Peter van Aelst, Fanni Toth, Laia Castro, Václav Stetka, Claes de Vreese, Toril Aalberg, Ana S. Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, Frank Esser, David Nicolas Hopmann, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Christian Schemer, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Agnieszka Stępińska, Jesper Strömbäck, Yannis Theocharis
Abstract

Exogenous shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic unleashes multiple fundamental questions about society beyond public health. Based on the classical concept of ‘need for orientation’ and the literature on the role of the media in times of crisis, we investigate to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic affected news consumption in comparative perspective. Based on a two-wave panel survey in 17 mostly European countries, our study targets the role of both legacy news brands (TV, radio, newspapers) and so-called contemporary news media (Internet-based and social media) during this global health crisis. Our results show an overall rise of news use across countries, but only for some types of news media. We find an increase of TV news consumption, and a higher reliance on social media and the Internet for news and information. This indicates that in times of crises and an unusually strong need for orientation, people mainly turn to news sources that are easily available and offer a more immediate coverage. Furthermore, we find the rise in news use to be mainly present among those who already have a higher level of trust in legacy media and among people that were more concerned about the impact of the pandemic.

Organisation(s)
Department of Communication
External organisation(s)
Universität Zürich (UZH), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Audencia Business School, Loughborough University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Gothenburg, University of Antwerp, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) , University of Bucharest, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Adam Mickiewicz University
Journal
Digital Journalism
Volume
9
Pages
1316-1346
No. of pages
31
ISSN
2167-0811
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1943481
Publication date
07-2021
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
508007 Communication science, 508014 Journalism
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Communication
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/does-a-crisis-change-news-habits-a-comparative-study-of-the-effects-of-covid19-on-news-media-use-in-17-european-countries(389b6a92-f05c-4ff5-bf06-25bd2e6e8b07).html