Why editors focus on different issues than readers
October 8, 2008 by grzegorz.piechota
The list of European concerns is topped for the first time by rapidly spreading worries regarding purchasing power and price trends, finds an international GfK survey presented at the INMA conference in Vienna on October 1-3.
Conversely, concern about unemployment has eased considerably and this issue has moved into second place in the list of concerns, also for the first time.
Further down the list by a long margin appear issues such as crime, pensions and retirement provisioning as well as housing and rents. (More results below.)
“Newspaper editors and marketeers can ask people what they are most concerned about and then develop their product to solve these problems. This is what really news design is about,” claimed Grzegorz Piechota and Jerzy Wojcik, two editors of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza who hosted at the INMA Outlook 2009: European conference a session titled “Newsmedia that is relevant to the society.”
They presented exclusively to the INMA members and collegues the results of GfK’s research “Challenges of Europe.”
Research that newspapers can use to become more relevant to the society
GfK Group, a research company, is studying concerns of 450 million people in 10 European countries for the last seven consecutive years. The survey includes countries like Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Every single year GfK’s researchers meet 12,000 people in those countries and ask them just one open-ended question: “In your opinion, what are the most urgent issues to be resolved currently in your country?” People can say what they wish and can mention as many problems as they want.
The survey clearly shows the trends: which concerns are moving up and which ones are falling. (Find examples below.)
Interview with Angelika Kofler of GfK Austria
Last Thursday, on October 2nd, Piechota and Wojcik interviewed on stage Dr. Angelika Kofler, a a US- and Austrian-trained sociologist/social psychologist and has been Head of Department for Social Research at GfK Austria since 2001.
Ms. Kofler previously worked as senior researcher for the Interdisciplinary Center for Comparative Research in the Social Sciences, a social science institute doing for the most part multi-national European research projects.
Her publications cover mostly social policy issues, ranging from migration to issues of the information society to homelessness or the sociology of emotions or methodological issues.
Before Ms. Kofler went into research, she had a career in Austrian radio and television as announcer and news anchor and also worked for US print media and a consultancy company.
Watch this edited live conversation with Ms. Kofler and the audience of the INMA conference.
(Video brought to you by video journalists of Media Regionalne, Polish part of Mecom Group.)
Here are some comments about “Challenges of Europe” by Mark Hofmans of GfK Custom Research Development in Brussels: News design: focus on readers’ concerns, not yours.
Example: how to use this kind of research
Piechota and Wojcik wanted to check if newspapers’ contents really reflect people’s concerns.
Dow Jones, an owner to Factiva archives, agreed to run a data-mining research exclusively for the INMA conference.
They were provided with the list of some top concerns of the British society as they were found by GfK. Analysts of Dow checked how many articles about these issues were published in all four British quality newspapers during the first nine months of this year.
The result is astonishing. The order of topics is exactly opposite.
If there is no mistake, one can see how different are priorities of editors and the general public.
“So newspapers can use this research to evaluate and support their editorial and marketing choices,” commented Piechota and Wojcik.
Challenges of Europe: more results
As the full results of GfK’s research is available only to the INMA conference participants, we share here only an overview of results.
1. Prices
Currently, 29% of Europeans are observing the trend in prices and purchasing power with some concern. This represents an increase of 11 percentage points in the overall comparison.
The problem is perceived as particularly serious in France, where it is the No. 1 worry. Almost 50% of the French are worried about developments, which means that the number of people considering that the issue calls for urgent action has more than doubled.
In Belgium, Russia and Austria, dwindling purchasing power has become the most topical issue. At currently 39%, concern has risen more than fourfold in Belgium and almost trebled in Austria. In Germany, more than a third of the population considers the situation to be dramatic. In both Italy and Poland, a quarter of the nation is concerned. However, in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain, only one out of ten citizens sees a need for action.
2. Unemployment
At 24%, this year the concern about unemployment has dropped to its lowest value since the survey was launched in 2001. Compared with last year alone, the number of those criticizing how this issue is dealt with has fallen by a further 6 percentage points and is down by more than 50% on the highest level to date, which was recorded in 2002.
Nevertheless, citizens in Germany, Poland and Spain consider unemployment as the issue requiring the most urgent attention. Almost 50% of Germans and nearly a third of Polish people are anxious about the lack of jobs. However, as in most other countries covered by this survey, concern has decreased in these countries. This year, fears regarding unemployment have only increased perceptibly in Spain.
3. Crime
Despite a minimal reduction of one percentage point down to 13%, crime comes in at third place on the list of European concerns this year.
Italians, in particular, are calling for measures to combat crime. The issue already became more important in the prior year and is now considered to be a major problem by around one in three people, putting it in the number one spot on the agenda. One trigger for this increase may be the ongoing difficulties associated with organized crime in Italy. A further cause may be a greater trend towards addressing measures linked to domestic security during the election campaign in spring 2008. This topic featured heavily in the manifesto of Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition, which won the election.
At 27%, Brits are also very concerned about crime in their country.
4. Pensions
Pensions and retirement provisioning were mentioned by 13% of Europeans as issues which concerned them. This means that concern about these aspects has stagnated compared with 2007, remaining in fourth place in the list of challenges.
In Germany and Austria, they are a source of discontent for most citizens. In these countries, the topic troubles one in four and one in five people respectively. With double-digit figures, old age provisioning also features high on the list of concerns of Russians and Poles.
5. Housing
The housing issue has dropped by two places. After the latest high of 14% last year, the figure has gone down to 12% this year. However, in some countries this is a major issue.
Approximately 25% of the Spanish and Russian population are urging for an improvement in the situation. In the Russian housing market, the situation has been very unstable since the end of the Soviet era. Russians still spend the lion’s share of their incomes on rent and ancillary costs.
This topic has also left citizens of other countries dissatisfied. In the UK and France, 11% criticized high rent and the lack of housing.
6. Immigration
This year, Brits are primarily concerned with immigration and its consequences. This topic has continually gained in importance since 2006 and was mentioned by 31% of respondents in the current survey.
The trend is likely to have been triggered by a wave of immigrants coming from Eastern Europe in general and Poland in particular, in the wake of the recent EU expansion. In addition, the number of asylum seekers rose by 16% in the first quarter of 2008 while falling by an average of 10% in other EU countries over the same period.
7. Transport policy
As in the prior year, in the Netherlands, people are more concerned about transport than anything else. Overall, this topic ranks only in eleventh place on the list of European concerns.
Citizens are even more discontented with the situation this year than they were in 2007. With a rise of 4 percentage points to 32%, the latest figure almost matches the previous high recorded in 2001. At the time, 33% of the population saw transport policy as the issue requiring the most urgent attention.
The focus is on the considerable level of congestion and traffic jams in major Dutch cities. Conurbations are increasingly facing a collapse of their traffic systems.
8. Environment
The environment only reappeared in the list of top ten issues last year, having last been listed in 2001.
This year, the need for greater environmental protection has slipped into tenth place on the list of European concerns, following its ranking in ninth place in 2007. The number of mentions has decreased slightly to 6%.
At 12%, Dutch and Germans, in particular, view the environment as a major issue. However, Austrians, Italians and Brits are also relatively worried about the environment with 10% and 8%.
About GfK Group
The GfK Group is the No. 4 market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The Group has 115 companies covering over 100 countries. Of a total of 9,297 employees (as of March 31, 2008), 81.1% are based outside Germany.
Tagged: Case studies, INMA, Marketing, Outlook 2009, research
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