The survey, New News, Old News was compiled for the Independent Television Commission (ITC) with the Broadcasting Standards Council (BSC) to investigate the idea that news reporting is changing and becoming more tabloid in style.

The research discovered that 84% of those questioned did not regard themselves as regular current affairs watchers.

Only 43% thought all sections of society are fairly represented on television news and most agreed it featured too many politicians and celebrities.

Young people were only likely to watch if they know an interesting story is going on and young ethnic people preferred the internet over television news.

Broadcasters need to experiment with new methods of presentation and interactivity to draw their audience in, the survey recommends.

How do you like your news? Why do you think people choose not to follow the news? What would you suggest to the broadcasters?

This Talking Point has now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

There is far too much politics on the news

Chris, UK

I believe that the decline in the number of viewers is due to the fact that there is far too much politics on the news. There is also too much depressing news about war which causes anxiety among the public.
Chris, UK

What does news give you? More stress? We already have plenty of it in our day to day life, thank you.
Agha Ata, USA

I watch the news, my eldest child watches the news and my wife watches the news, so what's the problem?
PhilT, Oman

Current news programming makes mountains out of molehills

Will, UK

When will the news broadcasters realise that people want to hear the facts and be left to ponder and discuss their own thoughts? I am not interested in unqualified expert opinion or unnamed sources close to whomever! I want the news and just the news, no inside stories and no reporter's spin. Current news programming makes mountains out of molehills, paints everything grey, and leaves the masses uninformed.
Will, UK

Television in general, and the news in particular, is being made obsolete by the internet and the web. Why would anyone want to watch news presenters drone on about uninteresting things targeted at the lowest common denominator when they can selectively choose what to read, watch and listen to on the web?
TR, USA

I work shift work and can't watch the evening news when working. I don't like watching TV during the day, but will listen to the midday news on radio as a rule. I get BBC news e-mailed daily, and follow up the leads of the items that interest me. I think this is especially good because of all the background info I can follow up through its useful links. I am also extremely impressed by the quality of the photography in the BBC news items.
Rudy Robinson, Australia

Why are we surprised? When more people vote in 'Pop Idol' than in the general election it demonstrates that we have, as a nation, totally lost our connection to reality.
Sarah, Reading, UK

News programmes featuring politicians are especially annoying

Dan, UK

News programmes featuring politicians are especially annoying; watching them lie and avoid the questions leaves me feeling that there is no point in asking them anything in the first place.
Dan, UK

When I'm at work I check the news websites so I get to read the news I want when I want and as it happens! If you compare the statistics of the increase in news web-browsers to the decline in television news I wouldn't be surprised if there was a link!
David Porter, UK

I find that if I do watch the news I have already read it on this website, or in the newspapers-none of it is news by then.
Joanna, United Kingdom

There is never any good news

Dave, UK

I don't watch the news anymore because there is never any good news, I know how bad the world is and I don't need to be reminded!
Dave, UK

The news is not objective; all news is shown in a way which promotes a certain view. People watch news to find out things that have happened, not to be told they should think in a certain way or agree with something Blair says.
Thomas, UK

There is just too much news. Too much in depth coverage and too much cynical coverage of politics. After 40 years of watching the 6 o'clock news I now prefer the Simpsons.
Laurence Mathers, England

It is so depressing, repetitive and manufactured

JS, UK

It is so depressing, repetitive and manufactured, and there is nothing we can do to affect it. Much better to get on with our own lives and be positive about life, rather than watch news passively on a screen. It makes me feel helpless.
JS, UK

I always watch the news. It's the only real chance I get to scream abuse at the Government!
Barry, England

The problem is the dumbing down of our society. We do not need more celebrity news and we do not care about celebrities. We need to educate society, and stop our slide towards American "culture".
Vish, UK

Stop presenting opinions and speculation as news and start reporting facts. Then, maybe, it would become more credible and more people would start watching and listening.
Phil, UK

People don't watch the news because it is clearly not objective. The reporters fill a story with opinion, bias, and pessimisms. They should present their report as a statement of what happened, not this rhetoric of 'how awful everything is' and 'how it's only going to get worse'.
John T, USA

Many people fail to see the importance of news

Duncan, UK

I think with the advent of global communications a couple of generations back, people found tuning into the news daily to be a very important advance in living. Nowadays, it is taken for granted, and many people fail to see the importance of news, both globally and locally. I personally watch the news, and read it every day, so I know what I'm talking about in conversations if nothing else.
Duncan, UK

There are two problems with television news today. The first is 'dumbing down' and the second is the actual content. Over 50% of many current news programs are devoted to a single subject, and that subject is invariably football. It seems that football is now the most important element of British news programs. For me this is ridiculous, hence I now get my news from the web, not from the television.
David , UK

There are so many reasons why people are turning off from the news. I would suggest the main reason is the priority given to triviality over stories with a genuine interest.
Steve Perry, UK

Why bother with TV?

Jenny Radcliffe, UK

At 23, I don't watch the news, because between the BBC and Guardian websites I can get all the news I want, in all the depth I want, at the times when I find it convenient. Why bother with TV? I catch headlines on the radio when I'm doing domestic chores, because that's not a distraction, but TV? I don't bother.
Jenny Radcliffe, UK

I watch the news - every day, and read it, and listen to it. I take the time to do so because I like to know what's going on in the world around me. And I'm not some boring old person with nothing better to do - I'm a 24-year-old with a busy life. The problem is not how the news is delivered; it's that people are too caught up in their own lives to pay any attention.
George, UK

It's full of boring politics

Stu Forster, England

The reason people are turning off is because it's full of boring politics. It should be reporting on stuff which we find interesting ie the world of showbiz etc. Who cares about Tory plots or Tony Blair's union problem?! It's all boring. Why else do you think The Sun is Britain's best-selling paper?
Stu Forster, England

There is far, far too much celebrity news on television, helping to breed ignorance about real issues. However much "real" news appears to be agenda-driven by vested interests. Particularly where it is in the hands of some commercial operators by their shareholders or the government the broadcaster is trying to suck up to.
Ben, UK

The only news worth watching are Newsnight and Channel 4; they have analysis and discussion about situations that relate to the world and the UK. Main news broadcasts have been dumbed down so much that they seem to have become a government mouthpiece.
Adam Badi, London, UK

The UK news industry is starting to suffer from the same problems as the US news industry. As information becomes easier to get news for the sake of news is less and less interesting. The UK news system needs to diversify content and become more analytical in nature. They need to think out of the box, fast.
Michael Gale, USA

Most people are not naturally curious about the world

Frank, UK

Most people are not naturally curious about the world around them, and only watch the news when it is particularly exciting, entertaining or lurid. In a relatively stable and affluent society, this is not very often. If the choice is between dwindling audiences for the news, and turning all news into entertainment, I favour the former. Let it be there for people who want it.
Frank, UK

The 24-hour news culture has resulted in dumbing-down and ill-informed reactions to events. I watched the 11 September events unfold via Fox News. Between the first and second planes crashing into the WTC, we already had several supposed experts being interviewed suggesting it was a light aircraft, pilot error etc - pointless speculation in a complete vacuum of fact.

So I'm not surprised few people are regular viewers - most of us want a once-a-day round-up, with some decent in-depth analysis. And the up-dated-every-minute-of-the-day approach actually plays into the hands of spin-doctors, whose messages are often disseminated without being critically evaluated.
Alex Duggan, UK

Participation with the audience is an excellent idea

Mel, London

I never watch the news; I prefer getting the news online and up to date, especially since 11 September when it hit me that unless we look around us and take real notice and responsibility for whom we elect then anything will happen. In the last few years I have taken a far greater interest in current affairs, politics and how the world is being run. I feel that as much participation with the audience as possible is an excellent idea. Remember when Mrs Thatcher was beaten down in a phone call, remember Tony Blair and the policeman's wife..? The public need their questions aired and answered.
Mel, London

The news bores me to tears because very little of it is actual news. The majority of the time is spent on journos speculating on what might happen. News bulletins should be about facts and not trying to sway public opinion.
Sandra, UK

I love to watch the news every day, but only on BBC One or Channel 4. The other channels have so much celebrity news that they should NOT be called the news.
L. Newman, UK

More idiot charts and daft graphics

R, UK

No we do not need new delivery methods (more idiot charts and daft graphics). We need to hear real news - not the latest celebrity sex scandal or who has been sticking white powder up their hooter! We want hard real news and if the media is too lazy to report it the whole of society is poorer as a result.
R, UK

I have recently stopped watching TV news. The coverage, especially on the BBC, has become so superficial and flippant as to be embarrassing.
Frank, UK

The news is eternally fascinating; it constitutes innately what is happening in the here and now in the context of past and future development. Long live the news!!!
Monkey Harris, Birmingham, UK