The majority of Spaniards recognize the fundamental role of the media in understanding current events, guiding decision-making and controlling political power. 75% describe as "very important" the need to be informed about the current situation, and the main reasons given refer to the rational plan: to "understand what is happening" (70%) and to "be able to make decisions" (44%).
This is one of the main conclusions of a study by the BBVA Foundation on the consumption of information in Spain, which also highlights the fact that conventional media continue to occupy a fundamental part of the information map: more than 80% turn to television, 75% follow current affairs through some type of newspaper (digital or printed) and 63% listen to the radio to get information, while magazines have a very minority presence (18%).
Regarding the consumption of digital information, newspapers are the main source of consultation: 59% of those who get information via the internet visit newspaper websites that have a printed edition, 53% consult exclusively digital newspapers and 50% follow newspapers on social networks.
The study also concludes that the information provided by the press, television and radio generates trust for the majority of the population (more than half give it a score of 6 to 10 points on a scale of 0 to 10), while the offer for social networks, and for aggregators and blogs, are below the trust threshold. In terms of conventional media, print newspapers get the highest level of trust, followed by radio and television.
Regardless of the impact of the internet on current affairs, sites with exclusively digital content do not get the level of trust that most conventional media do, the study reveals.
41% of respondents declare that they consult media that reflect a point of view close to their own, and 42% indicate that they combine them with others that offer different views. Those who most consult media related to their ideas are those who identify ideologically with the left or the right, while those who declare themselves to be of the center combine media that offer different points of view.
Politics, in any case, is only one of the many issues – and not the main one – that interests citizens when it comes to finding out about current affairs. Regarding the objects of information that attract the most attention, the study by the BBVA Foundation identifies a first group of topics, which the majority declare to consult on a regular basis: social issues (83%), health (81%), education (79 %), local affairs (77%) and environment (74%).
