Publishers must wonder at times how readers feel about the news. Pew Research Center asked the question, and found that consumers are not happy with it.
They are more
likely to feel negative emotions. But there are degrees. Overall, 46% are very or somewhat likely to feel informed. But 42% say the news makes them angry, while 38% say they feel scared, and 25% are
confused.
In contrast, only 10% say they are hopeful, while 7% are happy and 7% are empowered.
Old-time news pros will tell you they are not in the business of making people feel
happy: the news is the news.
But these findings may be useful for publishers trying to build and maintain an audience. This study is not so much a readership metric as a measure of the
emotional impact of news.
A program like the New York Times’ MiniCrossword reportedly brought joy to people, although it has now been commodified behind a paywall.
To
further pinpoint the research, of those who follow the news, 66% feel informed all or most of the time, 46% say they are angry and 25% are sad.
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Yet 14% who follow the news all or most of
the time say they often feel hopeful. And that percentage drops to 8% among readers who follow news some of the time, and 5% who do so less frequently, the study says.
It’s not
clear whether this is moderate anger or blind rage.
The study doesn’t address the nature of the news itself.