Dutch Media Barometer
A study on how the Dutch stay informed and what that means for informed citizenship.
The Dutch Media Survey is a long-term study in which we track the same group of Dutch people over several years and report annually on their media use. We’re gaining a better understanding of where Dutch people read, watch, and scroll. But we know little about why. An answer to that question will help journalism continue to meet the public’s needs in the future.
What?
For the Dutch Media Barometer, the Democracy and Media Foundation, the University of Groningen, and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences have been tracking the same group of 100 to 150 Dutch people—ranging in age from 12 to 55 and older—for several years. The goal of this qualitative study is to better understand why people choose the information sources they do, what they do with that information, and how this changes over the years.
In this study, we do not take the media offerings as our starting point, but rather the needs of citizens. By following the same people over many years, we can show how news habits, information needs, and experiences with news change, as well as how stable media habits form. Never before has this been studied so systematically and over such a long period of time.
Why?
The information landscape has changed significantly in recent decades, and with the rise of generative AI, that change has accelerated. Anyone looking for news, entertainment, or advice has endless options. The role of traditional media in this context is no longer a given.
The Democracy and Media Foundation is committed to a strong, pluralistic media landscape that serves a broadly supported and deeply rooted democracy. Journalistic media serve democracy only if a large audience is willing to read, listen to, and watch their content.
Existing studies mainly show how much time people spend on media and which sources they use. Often, the motivations behind their choices are unknown. Understanding why someone chooses one source over another is necessary to grasp what changing media habits mean for informed citizenship.
How?
The study is being conducted under the direction of Yael de Haan (Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and the University of Groningen), and Marcel Broersma and Joëlle Swart (Center for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen).
The panel is diverse in terms of gender, educational level, place of residence, and background. Participants answer a short question each week via an app about their information use during that week (“diary study”) and are interviewed annually.
One of the parts of the interview is a walkthrough. We guide three participants through the three information sources that are most important to them, ask them to use those sources as they normally would, and then have them reflect on the experience. This way, we stay as close as possible to their actual behavior rather than relying on what people say they do afterward.
Each year, we take a closer look at one group that is vulnerable from a democratic perspective and about which little research has been done.