When analysing patterns of media consumption in Chile, one must consider a before-and-after 18 October 2019, when the media was publicly criticised by protestors with a call to “turn off the TV”, a critique extended to all forms of media. It was a response to the coverage of the protests, as well as increased discontentment with mass journalism throughout the years, exacerbated by the civil unrest in October.
The 2020 Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report: Chile (Fernández Medina & Núñez-Mussa, 2020) presents a scenario where general trust in the media is at 30 per cent, 15 points lower than the previous year. This is telling, since in 2019 it had reached 45 per cent, 8 points lower than the previous year (Fernández Medina & Núñez-Mussa, 2019). According to the report, the main source of news consumption for Chileans was online media (86%), including social media. This was followed by social media platforms alone (73%), television (66%), and finally, print (24%), which had dwindled progressively, from 2017 (46%), 2018 (40%), to 2019 (33%). While online news is the most widely consumed, only 9 per cent of users paid for it. At the same time, the most-used devices to access news are smartphones (83%), followed by computers (31%) and tablets (9%).
The social media network most widely used for news consumption in 2020 was Facebook, with 63 per cent of usage, one point lower than the previous year; this was followed by WhatsApp, with 40 per cent.
The most recent national survey from the National Council for Television shows that open access television is the preferred media for information, followed by radio and social media (CNTV, 2018a). The Digital News Report, where social media was combined with digital outlets, made it the most-used form of media. However, both reports coincided in the importance of television. Across the full range of open television programming, informative content was the most-offered one in 2019, consisting of 20.6 per cent, which is totally produced in the country. This was 3.1 per cent higher than in 2018. Informative content was the most consumed by Chilean users in 2019 (28.6%), surpassing the previous year (25%) (CNTV, 2020b).
Informative radio stations with the largest news departments, BioBio and Cooperativa, ranked fifth and sixth places, respectively, in the radio ranking, behind entertainment music stations, with a small percentage increase in their audience between the first semesters of 2018 and 2019. Meanwhile, in the age group 15–34 years old, BioBio was in fourteenth place and Cooperativa in nineteenth. For audiences older than 25, BioBio was at third place, and Cooperativa at fourth. Both were more commonly listened to by men than by women (AAM, 2019).
61 per cent of radio news content corresponded to current events, with informative programmes including guests having a demand from 64 per cent of the audience. Current events information by itself – for instance, commentary and analysis – was offered against 28 per cent and 21 per cent demand, respectively. News programmes occupied 11 per cent of radio content offered and were demanded by 15 per cent of the audience (IPSOS & ARCHI, 2019).
The free print newspaper Publimetro had the highest weekly readership (386,920). As for paid newspapers, the most widely read was El Mercurio (328,808), which increases its circulation on weekends (409,161), followed by the tabloid from the same company, Las Últimas Noticias (268,879). Their key competition, La Tercera, had a weekly readership of 268,879 (Valida, 2018).
Muñoz and González (2018) show that Chileans stated they consumed little political content: 63 per cent declared that they did not watch, read, nor listen to political information on the Internet, radio, television, or newspapers (21% used only one medium, 9% two, and 4% all four). Television was the most utilised (27%), followed by newspapers (13%), Internet (10%), and finally, radio (9%). The population 18–24 years old – with higher levels of education and who identify with either the left or right wings – were more likely to use mass media to inform themselves about politics. It must be noted that the databases utilised by Muñoz and González (2018) were from 2014–2017.
The most-watched contents on television and other screens by teenagers 15–18 years old were news programmes (25%) (Antezana Barrios et al., 2018). General interest from young people in political issues was at 30 per cent, being more visible in the upper-middle class (41%) and middle class (33%) and dropping among lower-middle and poorer classes (both 25%) (Scherman et al., 2018).
Political turmoil has had an impact on news consumption. During the protests, Chileans consumed news mostly in the mornings and nights. The most-used traditional media were open access and cable television, while WhatsApp and Facebook were the most-used social media platforms. Facebook positioned itself as the most influential medium, surpassing television for all targets, regardless of age, gender, and socioeconomic status, except for people over 55 years old: those 55 and older, and of higher socioeconomic status, preferred television. Magazines and print newspapers had minimal relevance (Cadem, 2020).
In October, news programmes increased their offering on television, occupying 30 per cent of total programming countrywide, 554 hours more than in September. There was also a general increase in the number of hours dedicated to television consumption; however, this was unequal regarding age and socioeconomic groups. A relevant contrast appears in the age group 25–34: within this group, people with higher earnings increased their television consumption, across all of the population, while those with lower earnings decreased their consumption (CNTV, 2020b), as shown by Figure 1. This last group was the most active in the protests, which may provide a possible explanation to this pattern.
Source: CNTV, 2020b: 39
The age group reading more digital outlets was 18–45 years old, though in the 50+ group, there was a considerable amount of consumption too. Those upwards of 35 years old listened to a lot of radio, while it was lower in younger age groups. Printed newspapers did not have wide readership, reaching a maximum of 22 per cent in the age group 45–54 (Grassau et al., 2019).
In the first week of the protests, 80 per cent of people stated they used social media to read news, while 62 per cent used WhatsApp. The number of hours dedicated to each network varied according to age, with younger people dedicating more time (Grassau et al., 2019).
Cadem survey data (2020) about news consumption during the protests reveals that higher levels of usage did not translate into greater trust in a medium, as the best-evaluated medium was radio; in second place, newspapers and online outlets; and thirdly, Facebook, which showed a growing relevance. The decrease in trust is more pronounced for open access television (dropping from 55% in 2017 to 29% in January 2020). In the same period, the increase for Twitter was considerable (14% to 30%).
Grassau and colleagues (2019) demonstrated that the most-used forms of media were also the worst evaluated by users. Television was the second-most consumed medium and was evaluated poorly, followed by digital outlets in a bad evaluation, which were the most used. Both Grassau and colleagues (2019) and Cadem (2020) showed radio as being the best-evaluated medium and being better valued by users for its credibility and informative role.
Cadem (2020) presents that the decrease in trust towards media happened across all social groups: genders, ages, socioeconomic, and geographic. One explanation given by the report for the low rating of television is that 90 per cent of the surveyed people saw it as being interested only in their earnings and increasing their audiences. This view was already evident in 2017, when the public declared their suspicions about not all the news being given, the media taking advantage of human suffering, the irrelevance of some subjects, and a political bias within them (CNTV, 2018a).
Though the protests of 2019 made the problem visible, in the case of young people, general trust in media had been decreasing throughout the years in any case. According to Scherman and colleagues (2018), in 2009, trust was at 60 per cent, against 20 per cent in 2018. This went together with diminishing trust in other institutions, such as the armed forces, the police, and the Catholic church. In 2018, radio was the most trusted by this age group, followed by open access television and social media.
Brands with higher trust indexes according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report: Chile (Fernández Medina & Núñez-Mussa, 2020), were Cooperativa radio, CNN Chile, and BioBio Chile – all had an informative focus and were at the top of the survey in the previous year.
After the protests, the media sector saw an increase in their negative visibility (12% in August 2019, much lower than November’s 46%). Open access television channels were the most affected; for instance, Canal 13, which before and after the crisis had 9 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively. Among the more reliable brands for users, according to the Digital News Report, CNN Chile went from a negative visibility of 14 per cent to 36 per cent (Cadem, 2019).
