Industry News

Magazine Media to be Included in Ofcom's Weekly Tracker

Following a PPA request, Ofcom's weekly tracker survey which gathers research on how people are receiving and acting on news and information during the pandemic, will now include magazine media.

Around 2,000 people are surveyed weekly to further Ofcom's understanding around the access, consumption and critical engagement with news at this time.

The weekly report summarises the findings from each week in lockdown, including how people's experiences and behaviour has changed since previous weeks. The latest research shows:

· people are not accessing news and information about Covid-19 as frequently; 12% of people now access news about the virus at least 20 times a day, compared with a quarter (24%) in week one;

· more people (30%) are actively seeking to avoid news about the pandemic, up from 22% in week one;

· 44% of people have come across false or misleading information about Covid-19, in line with week one. False claims linking 5G to the outbreak remain the most commonly seen pieces of misinformation (51%); and

· virtually all respondents continue to say they are closely following the official advice about practising social distancing (98%), only going outside for essential things (97%) and washing hands regularly (92%).

The next wave of research will be published on May 5 2020. Magazine media will join the other news platforms including TV, newspaper and radio as a source for Ofcom's fieldwork.

For pre-Covid-20 news consumption and attitudes, which shows as a platform magazines rank highest for quality, accuracy, trustworthiness and impartiality, see Ofcom's News Consumption Survey.

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