Questionnaire

I know that the issue of negative news impacts me personally and I could  guess that it impacted others too. To be sure, I wanted to gather more information through a questionnaire! I decided to use Instagram as there are many different question options/ polls etc. - I would have preferred to use my design account to do this, but I had significantly more followers on my personal one so decided to utilise that. The data collected needs to take into account that my Instagram followers on the whole are between the ages of 18-25 so I think that when thinking about target audience in the future I need to consider that. 

I'm really pleased with the outcome. A lot more people got involved than I thought would and I'm really glad that I included some open questions because I got some amazing responses. These were young adults being passionate about the news and current affairs - there are so many interesting responses to my question 'what would you like to see more of in mainstream news?' - It's really opened my eyes to see what people care about and want to be more informed on. A lot of people mentioned that they want to know what's happening outside of the UK, Europe, and the US - they're aware that we have a warped perception of the East and want more knowledge on what's going on around the world. This has made me think a bit about my self-written brief. Perhaps I could ensure that whatever I provide or focus on -, I don't just focus on Western news? People want to know wat's happening globally so I need to consider that.

Questions and responses:

Hi! I'm doing a quick questionnaire for my uni project, if you could answer the next few questions it would be a huge help! 

Do you watch the news? 

How do you stay up to date? 

How does mainsteam news make you feel? 

Engaged 

Informed 

Informed but like they're not telling me the full story - I don't fully trust the media

Mostly sad but the hope of lockdown being lifted was good

I think it's a mix of emotions because there's so much being thrown at you at once 

Misled 

Negative 

Sad

Scared 

Annoyed

Frustrated 

Disappointed and angry usually 

Angry

Angry and sad as it's never good news

Angry most of the time, doesn't focus on smaller issues which are equally important 

Angry at the government! Also, some is irrelevant that you see on apps, so annoyed 

Depressed 

Sad most of the time 

Sad, stressed

Stressed

Stressed/ overwhelmed

Anxious 

Anxious and overwhelmed

Confused

Confused and annoyed

Confused and sad 

Confused and wary 

Normally impassive and disillusioned at the state of the world

Bored 

Downbeat

Despair 

9/10 it's depressing 

Like I'm living in a dystopian drama series 

Does watching the news make you feel anxious? 

Do you feel like you're fully informed about what's going on in the world? 

Do you feel like mainsteam news has impacted your mental health negatively? 

What would you like to see discussed more on mainsteam news? 

Positivity 

Positive stories 

Positive things 

Positivity, genuine world problems and solutions

Positive and uplifting news stories that celebrate human connection 

The positive things going on in the world, as it's overrun with the negatives

Wholesome content 

Happy things 

Something that's uplifting

Positivity in terms of the environment  

Environmental, equality, positive news

Global warming, more positive stories - we need to be uplifted too

Sustainability and also improvements in all areas, be it healthcare or retail etc. also maybe celebrate things more, this morning is good at celebrating occasions 

Local communities/ suitability 

Climate change, mental illness

Sustainability, metal health, stuff in other countries that doesn't get shown 

Mental health 

Climate change, sustainability, I think global south countries aren't reported on enough 

More global outlook (beyond America) 

Israel and Palestine and other genocides and wars that are happening in the world

Things like events that are going on in different countries and how we can help them 

More global news so the West can be better educated on things happening elsewhere

Issues outside of the UK 

A larger variety of news topics looking at different countries issues in more depth 

International affairs, impartial reviews on the government's workings, LBGTQ+ stuff 

Less unbiased/ unpolarising opinions 

About things other than brexit and covid, talking to other people making changes other than the government etc. 

Anything but brexit and covid 

Not covid 

What they leave out 

The future

Do you know any sources of positive news? e.g. The Happy Broadcast. 

No

No - but I have just followed @thehappybroadcast

@thehappynewspaper

Animals!

I've been reading Ruby Wax's new book - and now for the good news

Many healthcare twitter pages

Instagram influencers (like Ben West)

@VeganFoodUK share exciting news about vegan food

China morning post 

Thank You!

Again, I'm really impressed with the responses that my questions got. Initially, my issue was that the news is so negative and impacts my mental health negatively, but conducting this survey has made me realise that there is another issue - the fact that our news in the UK doesn't do a good enough job of informing people about global news. I'm really happy to have found an issue within my issue that I can look into further. 

Things from survey to look into: 

UK News' lack of reporting on global affairs 

Ruby Wax's book And Now For The Good News 

The Happy Newspaper 

China morning post (?)