Compared to the UK, the US is More Inclined to Engage in Visual Journalism

By Rachel63 and Sharon69


Visual journalism is on the rise world wide, but is common in some countries more than others. Through social media and other online news outlets, access to visual journalism is more widespread. The US is relatively high on the list of visual news engagement, especially compared to other countries such as the UK.


The US Is a Top Consumer of Video/Audio Journalism
In comparison to other countries, the US has the highest percentage of its population engaging in video news formats. The US has 34% of its users engaging in video journalism for news, while the UK only has 18% of its users engaging. However, the rise in this type of engagement has been facilitated by the rise of technology. More people are viewing news through mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, especially in the US, which is consistent with the numbers shown. The percentage of people that do not seem to engage in visual news sources in this way say that it is due to screen size, and that not everyone is comfortable viewing news on a small screen.

Social Media Outlets Such as Facebook and Youtube Continue to Grow
While social media has been on the rise for a few years now, it is now becoming more and more prominent as a social media outlet. Websites such as Facebook and Youtube have the most viewership for online news. Facebook has the most users engaging in news with 35% of the 60% of people who use Facebook are using the site for news. Youtube has 15% of the 52% of people who use its site engaging in news. Youtube especially has been a growing platform for visual journalism as people can watch videos of news either on the computer or on mobile devices. In the US, 17% of people use Youtube as a news source, while only 6% of users in the UK use Youtube as a news source.

More People In US Share and Participate in Social Media News

Sharing is a huge part of Social media. Many sites now have "share" buttons on articles and news stories where users can "share" stories with their Facebook friends or email contacts, thus speeding up the rate at which news travels. The US is among the topmost sharing countries, with 35% of people actively engaging in this type of news participation. In the UK, the participation is significantly lower, with numbers only at 16% of people sharing


The US is Mostly Partial to Accessibility of News Subscriptions
Most US users claim that the reasons they subscribe to different news sources are influenced by how easily and quickly they can access the news. People want to be able to access their favorite news sites at any given time. This also goes along with the rise of social media in the news and the rapidly growing use of mobile devices. The US has 49% of people that value the accessibility of their news, and the UK has slightly less people valuing this at 42%.