JOURNAL

The shadowy realm of news avoidance 

Johan Lindell, Zofie Basta, Alexandra Brieger, Sayaka Fukada, Sarah Greiner, Marta Marcora & Christopher Mc Taggart | Nordicom  

In this study, the authors explore a new approach to news avoidance, as “a form of negative social action embedded in a negative social space – a realm of the 

lifeworld filled with non-doings and non-appearance.” By analysing a case study that took place in Sweden during the Covid–19 pandemic, where a number of people disconnected from national public service news, the authors demonstrate that avoiders of news from public service media occupy relatively precarious social positions. Their research also showed that a broader negative social space was an influencing element for news avoidance.