Media and journalists have an uneasy relationship with their public. They are there for them, but not so much to listen as to speak to -to inform them about what goes on in society, the facts and figures, backgrounds and opinions they deem relevant, interesting, in the public interest or exciting for people to know. Journalists feel slightly uncomfortable when the public respond, especially with criticism of their performance. When their professional roles, reliability and integrity are called into doubt, journalists are often more self-referential (listening to their colleagues) than responsive (listening to their audiences); even when they are aware that more than a third (37 percent) of the European public tend not to trust television and almost half (48 percent) feel equally negative about the press (Eurobarometer 67, 2007). At the same time, journalists need their public, if only to survive in a competitive media market, a fact of which managers and owners may be more acutely aware.The ambiguity of this relationship between journalists and public has recently increased and been put to the test by at least four -interrelated and mutually reinforcing -developments: two inside and two outside the direct realm of journalism. In the first place, with increasing competition between and commercialization within media, and decreasing loyalty and changing news consumption patterns of their audiences, a shift can be noted from a supply to a demand market in communication (Van Cuilenburg, 1998). Media no longer decide exclusively what the public should read, watch or listen to based on what the former think the latter need as democratic citizens. Rather, the assumed wishes and desires of the public have become more decisive for what the media provide. Consequently, the selection of news (what is relevant and important?) could well be based more on market considerations, of what sells and is attractive for the public, than on in the public interest.

This study investigates the degree of news avoidance during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. Based on two panel surveys conducted in the period April-June 2020, this study shows that the increased presence of this behavior, can be explained by negative emotions and feelings the news causes by citizens. Moreover, news avoidance indeed has a positive effect on perceived well-being. These findings point to an acting balance for individual news consumers. In a pandemic such as Covid-19 news consumers need to be informed, but avoiding news is sometimes necessary to stay mentally healthy.

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Major news outlets increasingly use immersive techniques in their journalistic productions. The idea is that, through the application of immersive technologies, the news consumer can engage with and be part of the story. However, we do not know, to what extent this promise is actually fulfilled in productions currently accessible to news audiences. This study uses a multi-step approach to fill this knowledge gap. First, based on an interdisciplinary literature review, we propose a conceptual model of immersive journalism. We then use the elements of this model to content analyze 189 journalistic productions that are labeled as immersive by the producers, including 360 degree videos, computer-generated VR, and interactive, 360 web productions, stemming from a variety of outlets and countries. Results show that the level of user immersion in these productions is actually limited, with little interaction and technical inclusion possibilities. Our results contribute to an emerging field of journalism studies, in which the user plays a new role when interacting with advancing technologies.

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