The annual study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism analysed the development of the handling and consumption of journalistic news. A total of 93,000 people from 46 countries who consume news online were surveyed for this purpose.
The study came to the conclusion that traditional media, such as TV and print, are becoming less and less important, with digital offerings unable to fill the resulting gap and an overall decline in news consumption being observed. In principle, respondents still prefer to read news rather than watch or listen to it. However, the consumption of news via video is steadily increasing. Access is mostly via third-party providers such as YouTube and Facebook. Younger respondents in particular consume news as podcasts, but this is still a marginal phenomenon overall.
A shift in access to online news can be recognised compared to the last surveys. For example, access via search results, social media and collective newsletters is becoming more dominant compared to targeted access to a news website. Consumers are rather sceptical about the networks’ advertising algorithms. Less than 30% of respondents stated that they find it advantageous if the networks base news content suggestions on the usage behaviour of their users.
In conclusion, trust in the news media has decreased by two percentage points: 40% of all respondents state that they trust the news media most of the time, with respondents from Finland in the lead (69%) and Greece at the bottom (19%).
