RESEARCH by the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom shows 87 per cent of people in Wales are “very or quite interested” in news from the country – which is below figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

The data, published today, also shows that Facebook is the second most popular source for accessing news about Wales, by people in Wales, behind the television. 

Across the UK 81 per cent are “very or quite interested” in news about their own nation with England having the lowest figure at 80 per cent against 91 per cent in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

Figures for media use in Wales are based on telephone interviews and online surveys of 478 people aged 16 and over in the country by Ofcom and were compiled for the organisation’s annual News Consumption report. 

That showed television remains the most used platform for news, used by 74 per cent of adults in Wales. 

When people were asked which stations or platforms they use to access news about Wales BBC One was the most popular, used by 33 per cent of adults, followed by ITV Wales, 25 per cent, and Facebook 18 per cent. 

The BBC website or app is used by 17 per cent of people for Welsh news and any Wales-based news site or app were named by 11 per cent of respondents. Eight per cent named BBC Radio Wales or the corporation’s Welsh language station Radio Cymru with the same percentage using Twitter. 

In Scotland commercial station STV is the most popular source for Scottish news, 36 per cent, followed by BBC One, 26 per cent, while in Northern Ireland the commercial station UTV is top with 50 per cent followed by BBC One at 45 per cent.

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Overall in Wales BBC One is the most popular source for news, used by 57 per cent, followed by ITV Wales, 38 per cent, and Facebook accounting for 34 per cent. 

Excluding social media the BBC website and app, at 31 per cent, is the most used internet service while Ofcom states: “Wales based news websites or apps such as S4C or Western Mail are used by 10 per cent of adults in Wales.” 

According to Ofcom’s research the Daily Mail, used by 18 per cent of respondents, is the most popular newspaper for news in Wales when looking at print, website and app figures combined. The research found 9 per cent use the Western Mail when print, website and app figures are combined, its web presence is known as Wales Online, and four per cent use its sister title the Daily Post/North Wales Live based on print, web and app figures. 

S4C is used by six per cent of adults while a combined figure of 10 per cent for both BBC Radio Wales and Welsh language station Radio Cymru make it the third most popular radio source for news after BBC Radio 2, 18 per cent, and BBC Radio 1, 12 per cent. 

Social media overall, as a source for news, is the third most popular format, used by 46 per cent of adults, just behind all radio stations combined, 47 per cent, and websites and apps 48 per cent. Printed newspapers are used by 27 per cent of adults. 

Interviews were conducted in November and December 2020 and February and March this year and Ofcom says comparisons with figures from previous years are not possible due to changes in how the reseach was conducted due to the Covid pandemic. 

This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.