Report “Information inequality in the UK coronavirus communications crisis”

The report examines information inequality and other social differences in how people have navigated the coronavirus communications crisis in the UK based on data from a series of surveys fielded fortnightly since mid-April 2020. Among its highlights:

• a ‘rally around the news’ effect has been observed, as the initial rally around the UK government quickly evaporated,
• overall news use levels remain higher than before the crisis, though COVID-19 news use has declined significantly from mid-April to late June.
• as news use has fallen, inequalities in COVID-19 news use have grown (in the sense that news use has become unevenly distributed).
• gaps in news use by age and gender have grown
• there are differences in levels of COVID-19 news use by household income and levels of formal education. However, the gaps have remained at the same size since mid-April
• news avoidance has risen slightly since April, and women are consistently more likely to say they avoid news than men.

The report is part of the UK COVID-19 news and information project that analyses how the British public navigates information and misinformation about coronavirus and about how the government and other institutions are responding to the pandemic.