We asked all our respondents to select their five most important types of news. As with last year, domestic news is the most popular type of news, closely followed by international, local, and regional news. Mirroring political and media structures, we see that regional news is most important in Germany. Local news matters more in a vast country like the United States where city newspapers and local TV stations have become a core part of the media diet. Our sample from urban Brazil tends to place more importance on business and financial news, health and education news, and science and technology news.

Looking at an aggregated view of our entire sample of 11,000 people we can see significant differences by age and gender. Men are much more interested in sports news, political news, and business and economic news. Women place more importance on health and education news, local news, and especially entertainment and celebrity news. In terms of age, interest in political and economic news grows as people get older. In contrast, entertainment and science and technology news are of greater interest for younger groups.

We can also look at the impact of platform usage on different types of news through our multi-country segmentation. Traditional users tend to be comfortable with the broad subject areas dealt with in television and radio news bulletins, such as regional news and country news. Those who use multiple online sources (mainly online and heavy multi-channel) are more likely to value niche areas such as entertainment as well as science and technology news – subjects that the internet is able to cover in far greater depth.

In our other segment, News Lovers are more interested in politics and business and financial news. In contrast, Daily Briefers and Casual Users are relatively more interested in local news, regional news, and health and education news.

Political news and political engagement

This year we have been able to ask detailed questions about political news in Germany and the United Kingdom and this offers the opportunity to compare the ways in which political news is found and consumed – as well as exploring levels of political participation online. Researchers are particularly interested in understanding these issues because a strong democracy is felt to depend on a high quality of information – where a range of views can be easy obtained and debated. So how do our two countries match up?

Overall, interest in politics is significantly higher in Germany than in the United Kingdom. In Germany 54% of our sample say they are either extremely interested or very interested in politics, compared with just 33% in the UK. In addition, twice as many of our UK respondents (25%) said they were not very interested or not at all interested in politics compared with those in Germany (12%). The two countries have similar levels of internet penetration and age profiles and there were no significant elections during our survey.

Interest in political news

The degree of interest in political news varies considerably by age and gender. In general, men take a more active interest than women, and older people more than the young. This is particularly the case in Germany, but less so in the UK where younger people show interest in politics close to the average. There is no obvious enthusiasm for politics amongst older groups in the UK either.

In the UK, there is also some evidence from our survey of a low level of political interest among working-class voters – something that has been a long-standing concern of left of centre political parties. Among council tenants, only 26% had a high level of interest in politics, compared with 39% for those who owned their own homes.

Sources of political news

In both the UK and Germany, broadcasters (via TV, radio, and internet) are top sources of news. Reflecting the German federal model, local/regional newspapers are more important than in the UK where political power is much more centralised. Political magazines (e.g. Focus) are much more widely read in Germany than in the UK, where publications like the New Statesman and The Spectator tend to be reserved for narrow political elites and national newspapers tend to see their role as helping to set the political agenda.

Political engagement

Internet news users in the United Kingdom show slightly more willingness to engage online with political activities than their German counterparts despite a lower level of overall interest.

Although general levels of online engagement with politics are still relatively low, particular groups of users are adopting these new techniques more enthusiastically. Of those who are interested in political news (75% of the sample in UK and 88% in Germany) at least a quarter had signed an online petition on politics in the past year. A small percentage were following a politician via social networks, but this rises to one in four social media users and heavy multi-channel users (see Figure 1.2c for explanation of this group). 18–24s are four times more likely to follow a politician via social media than the over 55s in Germany and six times as likely in the UK.

Forms of online political engagement

Entertainment news

One of the most striking findings from last year’s survey was that the United Kingdom had the lowest level of interest in political news but the highest level of interest in entertainment and celebrity news. The UK stands out again in this respect in the 2013 survey (see Figure 1.5a) against all our countries apart from urban Brazil. This year we have drilled down in more detail to see what is driving these trends in the UK.

Political news is much more valued overall, but it is clear that entertainment news is much more polarised. People either love it or hate it. Interest is driven by women far more than by men and by the under 45s.

In terms of sources of entertainment news, national newspapers and their websites play a significant role and broadcasters a less significant role compared with other genres. For those with the strongest interest in the subject social media and celebrity-focused magazines are as important as national newspapers and broadcasters. There is also a significant role for online blogs and specialist sites like TMZ and Digital Spy. Together with the strong entertainment focus of sites like Mail Online, there is evidence that online is fuelling interest in this form of news, providing more entertainment news at a greater level of frequency than in a mainly analogue world.

Interest in international news in the UK

International news has the smallest number of people who say they are not interested, compared with the other two categories. This may be because this category covers such a wide range of stories or because it is less socially acceptable to say you are not interested in events outside your own country.

In terms of sources for international news, one striking finding is how foreign broadcasters and newspapers have become an important part of the media mix in the UK, with a combination of multi-channel TV and the choice provided by the internet. This is particularly the case for those who are most interested in the subject.

Comparing the influence of UK newspapers on different types of news

There has been much written about the importance of UK newspapers in providing information and defining the agenda around subjects like politics and international news, together with a diet of scoops about the royal family and television celebrities. By looking at those most interested in these different types of news we can see that newspapers in the UK have not lost influence in the move to online. Broadsheet newspapers, like The Times, the Daily Telegraph, and the Guardian, play if anything a more important role online where users tend to be more promiscuous and interested news users will often gravitate towards the most distinctive content. We see the same effect with entertainment news. In this case, though, the distinctive and exclusive content is produced by mid-market and popular newspapers and interested audiences are more likely to find this content than is the case offline.