Media Consumption

Apr 16

Where do people get the news today? Everywhere.

Before introducing the idea of Constructive Journalism, we asked our audience about their relationship with media outlets.

How do you relate to the news?

We first asked each person to choose among three statements as a big-picture label for their relationship with the news.

Most people (14) said they wanted to be “informed and aware.” Some (4) said they were only interested if it’s relevant to them, and others (4) said they generally avoid the news.

How do you receive the news today?

While we didn't ask this specifically, people described active versus passive ways that they curate their own consumption.

The vast majority of our audience described specifically choosing the media outlets they follow on a regular basis. Some also described a further step of going online to research and determine facts.

Of the five who described a more passive "what pops up" approach, only one had a college degree.

How has your relationship with the media changed?

We asked people to think back 10 years and reflect on how their news consumption is different today. People described things like the decline of their local newspaper and the experience of constant breaking news and app notifications.

“The news is so negative. I’d rather put my attention on positive things.”
“They only have two pages of what’s going on in the community. If anybody needs to read it, you can’t even find it in town.”
“I think, like everybody else, my attention span is not what it used to be.”

Several people spoke from a source perspective, rather than as an audience member:

“15 years ago, we were covered. Now we send them the news. We package it for them.”

Choosing to limit news consumption

Several of our audience members shared specific stories about why and how they decided to change their news habits.

I remember the day I quit watching the TV news: June 6, 2020. Because of Covid, basically. It was just too much. We realized it was making everything mentally worse. The older I've gotten, the more I need to streamline and have less information coming in. I am not interested in other people's opinions at this point in my life.

A lot of the "news" is really opinion or agendas, and during Covid, you felt like they were all pushing you to believe one side or another. I felt like, "That's it. I'm done."

— Dr. Erin Rhodes, Hattiesburg

Last year, I quit watching television. I had been watching 3-5 hours of TV news a night. I stopped completely and am still on a pure reading diet.

Staying informed is definitely part of my life, but television moved too much toward opinion journalism: "We're going to tell you five seconds of the story and then argue for 30 minutes, with a panel that sits and screams at each other."

I did away with all that and just went for being informed. It's brought my anxiety levels way down.

— Cameron Abel, Greenwood

I do not have social media, and have not since 2015. I was at a party and was talking to a lady, and she pointed out that the things I was saying were totally made up. I looked up the information and said, "I'm not the sort of person who ever tends to be untruthful, so where did I get this crap information from?" I realized it was because I was reading crap.

I don't have much currency in this world. I'm not the smartest or the wealthiest, but at least you can trust what I say. So that's when I got off all these platforms.

— David Collins, Jackson

Where do you get your news today?

Our Mississippi audience demonstrates the extreme diversity in where and how people worldwide now access "the news."

Our sample of 20 people mentioned 62 specific news sources by name in response to this or other questions. Specific outlets mentioned more than twice were: Mississippi Today (11), CNN (8), Facebook (7), Clarion-Ledger (4), New York Times (3) and WTVA (3).

Specific outlets mentioned twice were: NE Miss. Daily Journal, Magnolia Tribune, NPR, WDAM, Wall Street Journal, Apple News, Sun Herald, Fox News, WLBT-3, Washington Times, MSNBC, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok.

It’s not just media outlets: Five people also pointed to owned-media channels (email and social media) from local governments, elected officials and school districts in response to this question.