Benjamin Toff is assistant professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Ruth Palmer is associate professor of communication and digital media at IE University in Madrid and Segovia, Spain. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and professor of political communication at the University of Oxford.
News avoiders are one of the most neglected topics in communications research, yet listening to and understanding them may be absolutely crucial for the health of democratic culture. This precisely grounded, sociologically rigorous, and searching three-country study sets completely new standards for pursuing this elusive topic. -- Nick Couldry, London School of Economics and Political Science This is a beautifully written book that teaches us so much about the nature of our relationships to news by looking in closely at the lives and understandings of people who choose to avoid it. -- Katherine Cramer, University of Wisconsin-Madison This book is a deep dive not only to the quantitative data about news avoidance, but most importantly, to the sentiment of those citizens that have opted out of quality journalism. If journalists want to regain these readers, then it is crucial that we understand them first: this book serves as an important first step. -- Clara Jiménez Cruz, CEO of Maldita.es and chair of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network A deep dive into the complicated reasons that people distrust the news. A must-read for any journalist who wants to serve the people, meaning all the people—not just their friends and colleagues. -- Amanda Ripley, <i>Washington Post</i> columnist