A new Newsworks study explores the role of news brands in a contemporary landscape under the theme, World without News.

Research commissioned by the UK publishers' group showed how the nation's appreciation and value of journalism increased significantly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights and insights from the research:

70 per cent agreed you could trust newspapers to be on top of all the news stories at the time;

82 per cent agreed that newspapers brought readers a variety of news, even stories they hadn't previously heard of;

83 per cent agreed that newspapers covered all aspects of the news, not just one particular type of news;

80 per cent agreed that newspapers were great at laying out everything to help a reader make sense of a story, issue or event; and that

Under 35-year-olds were more likely to change their opinion or behaviour after reading a news story.

Against a backdrop of fake news, disinformation and attacks on free speech, 66 per cent of news consumers said they "appreciate and value journalism more since the global coronavirus pandemic began".

Encouragingly, the increase is most stark in the under 35-year-olds, with 77 per cent valuing the work of journalists more now in providing reliable information and news.

Younger people were found to be increasingly using trusted news brands to check what they see on social media. Although 42 per cent of under 35-year-olds said they used social media more throughout the height of the pandemic, seven in ten of those said they felt less anxious about a story they had seen on social media once they had then checked it out via a news brand.

And 70 per cent of all respondents agreed that a "world without journalism would harm democratic society" - nearly all those cited the work journalists do in "covering important topics and issues that might otherwise be overlooked" and are "important to society".

The research also identified six goals that consuming news helps individuals to achieve including: connecting with others; calibrating the world around us; and, helping us, as individuals, to thrive.

Newsworks managing director Jo Allan says the research "clearly shows the importance of trusted news and information.

"Journalism matters to increasingly large numbers of people who are relying on news brands more than ever, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is our biggest study to date and what has emerged is the essential and growing role news plays in bringing us together, providing us with different perspectives and helping us to understand what is happening in the world around us."

Spanning a total of nine months, across two periods - pre and post lockdown - the research began with semiotics analysis that decoded the different techniques 15 different news outlets used to cover five key news stories. Following this, a behavioural experiment saw regular readers deprived from consuming news brands. Conversely, a group of non-news readers were asked to read a news brand every single day for the same four-day period.

Researchers also looked to substantiate their findings via a 24-hour news diary among 1135 news consumers and nationally representative surveys in both February and August 2020.

The World Without News study was conducted by Newsworks with Office of Ideologies, Map the Territory and Tapestry Research. See https://www.newsworks.org.uk/resources/world-without-news