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Podcasts Take Two
Hard news vs. BuzzFeed: Why we lie about what we like to read
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Jun 27, 2014
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Hard news vs. BuzzFeed: Why we lie about what we like to read
According to a Reuters study, we care most about national and local news, the economy and politics. But a look at the most-visited pages on the web shows otherwise.
Image of kitten in towel. Courtesy of eaghra via Flickr - http://bit.ly/1prCVWA
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According to a Reuters study, we care most about national and local news, the economy and politics. But a look at the most-visited pages on the web shows otherwise.

When it comes to news that's important to you, what issues matter most?

Well, according to a study done earlier this year by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, we care the most about national and local news, the economy and politics. When asked, respondents said they didn't care nearly as much about sports, celebrity break-ups or what their "Orange Is the New Black" prison nickname might be.

But take a look at the most-visited pages on popular news sites and the most-shared stories across the web, and a different picture emerges. As it turns out, most Americans pretend to consume mostly “hard news,” but their appetites for the fun stuff most often win out: lists, quizzes, adorable pictures of kittens and baby goat GIFs.

That's what Derek Thompson of The Atlantic recently discovered when he took a closer look at what people are actually reading and sharing online.

He spoke with Take Two to talk about why, when it comes to the news, we say we want “vegetables” but we “mostly eat candy.”