But it is important to just point out, speaking of hope, agency and dignity, that Germany has increased trust in its institutions over the past couple of decades. Like Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Japan. And the countries that have low avoidance rates have more trust. has a higher avoidance rate than about 30 other countries. And when I look at the Reuters data from around the world, you definitely do start to see a correlation between distrust and avoidance. And it's very hard to separate what's what. So it is interacting with the hopelessness and the despair. And there's a lot of different factors there, but we are a country that is truly stuck in conflict right now, in dysfunctional conflict. Does polarization make it easier to avoid news that people don't like or agree with?Īmanda Ripley: "It definitely is kind of a diabolical feedback loop that we're in. The United States has among the most highly polarized news audiences when compared to, say, Japan, Germany or the U.K., for example. Author of " High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out." ( Bornstein, co-founder and CEO of the Solutions Journalism Network. What can journalists do? GuestsĪmanda Ripley, investigative journalist and the host of Slate's " How To!" podcast. Today, On Point: Americans are avoiding the news. "There's a lot you would do differently if you were going to design news for human consumption." "There is some overlap between what journalism does and how humans actually process information, but not a huge amount," Ripley says. So what needs to change? Ripley has an answer, and it begins with giving people hope: (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)Ībout 40% of Americans actively avoid the news, according to a Reuters Institute study. Government guidelines encourage wearing a mask in public with strong social distancing in effect as all 50 states in the USA have begun a gradual process to slowly reopen after weeks of stay-at-home measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 25: A man reads a newspaper at a table outside White Castle in Sunnyside, Queens during the coronavirus pandemic on in New York City.