The corona pandemic has not only brought about changes in content and structure for the media industry, but also an increase in the trust of readers and users – especially in quality media such as the Upper Austrian News. This is a key result of the Austrian evaluation of the “Reuters Institute Digital News Report”, which is collected annually worldwide and examines media usage.
Television remains the top news source in Austria with a usage rate of 36 percent, especially among people aged 50 and over. However, newspaper websites and apps are catching up: They are the main source of news for 15.3 percent of respondents (2020: 13.6 percent). The use of print media as the main source of news has fallen slightly to 9.4 percent in 2021, although this year’s study shows for the first time that the youngest target group between 18 and 24 is increasingly turning to the printed newspaper again. According to the authors of the study, Austria is generally “a print country” in an international comparison. The radio also suffered losses and fell from 16 percent to 12.4 percent. At the same time, general interest in news rose to 87.7 percent daily usage. The number of those who pay for online news has risen 1.4 percentage points to 12 percent. The most commonly used form, at 34.1 percent, is the combination of a print-digital package.
Despite the fake news debate, trust in news has generally risen: When asked “I think you can trust the majority of news sources in most cases”, 46.4 percent answered “yes”, an increase of 6, Corresponds to 6 percentage points. Confidence in Austrian news brands has also increased. The ORF-Nachrichten is at the top with 74 percent, followed by the print media. (ct)
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