According to a report released on Tuesday, the percentage of individuals who first receive news through a website or app has decreased by 10 points since 2018, and younger demographics prefer to access news through social media, search, or mobile aggregators.
According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s annual Digital News Report, audiences on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat pay more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than to journalists. The fastest-growing social network in the study, TikTok is used for news by 20% of people between the ages of 18 and 24, an increase of five percentage points from the previous year. Less than half of survey respondents, down significantly from 6 out of 10, indicated any interest in the news.
48% of respondents, down from 63% in 2017, said they are very or extremely interested in news
“There are no reasonable grounds for expecting that those born in the 2000s will suddenly come to prefer old-fashioned websites, let alone broadcast and print, simply because they grow older,” Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Nielsen said in the report, which is based on an online survey of roughly 94,000 adults, conducted in 46 markets including the U.S.
Less than a third of survey participants stated that having stories chosen for them based on their prior news consumption is a good method to acquire news. However, individuals still somewhat prefer algorithms to editors or journalists when choosing their news.
In the past year, trust in the news has decreased by 2 percentage points, reversing gains gained in several nations during the height of the coronavirus outbreak. 40% of Americans say they generally believe the news, on average. The United States’ faith in the news has increased by 6 points to 32%, but it still ranks among the lowest in the survey.
In all markets, 56% of respondents said they are concerned about spotting fake news on the internet, a 2% increase over the previous year.
According to the survey, 48% of respondents, down from 63% in 2017, said they are very or extremely interested in news.
