News Consumption Patterns during the Coronavirus Pandemic across Time and Devices: The Cyprus Case
Journal
World of Media
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic sparked a renewed interest in news consumption
patterns. When major crises occur, people experience an increasing need for
information and sense-making; given the extraordinary impact of this health
crisis on people’s social and work life, relevant work support a ‘rally around the
news’ effect, news fatigue and news avoidance, doomscrolling and a trend toward
mainstream and trusted news outlets. This study explored how the coronavirus
pandemic shaped news consumption patterns in Cyprus. The results show that
news use hit record levels at the onset of the crisis, followed by corona news
fatigue in the following months. Increased news consumption levels and greater
engagement with the news were recorded again in the last couple of months of
2020 when the second wave of the pandemic hit Cyprus. Direct traffic to widely
used and trusted sources doubled while a crisis boosting effect on mobile access
to the detriment of computers was recorded.
patterns. When major crises occur, people experience an increasing need for
information and sense-making; given the extraordinary impact of this health
crisis on people’s social and work life, relevant work support a ‘rally around the
news’ effect, news fatigue and news avoidance, doomscrolling and a trend toward
mainstream and trusted news outlets. This study explored how the coronavirus
pandemic shaped news consumption patterns in Cyprus. The results show that
news use hit record levels at the onset of the crisis, followed by corona news
fatigue in the following months. Increased news consumption levels and greater
engagement with the news were recorded again in the last couple of months of
2020 when the second wave of the pandemic hit Cyprus. Direct traffic to widely
used and trusted sources doubled while a crisis boosting effect on mobile access
to the detriment of computers was recorded.
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