Reuters Institute’s recently published 2023 Digital News Report has unveiled significant shifts in online news consumption patterns across the globe. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is dedicated to exploring the future of journalism worldwide through debate, engagement, and research.
Key Highlights of the Report
Shifting Patterns in Online News Consumption in India
- Indians are increasingly turning to search engines and mobile news aggregators(43%) (online platforms or software devices that collect news stories) as their primary sources of online news, moving away from traditional news websites.
- Only 12% prefer reading news from direct sources, i.e. newspapers, while 28% prefer social media for news reading.
- Prefer watching or listening to news content over reading it.
Regional Contrasts in Online News Engagement
- Scandinavian countries maintain direct engagement with established news brands.
- Asia, Latin America, and Africa rely heavily on social media for news.
Diverse Preferences Across Countries
- Reading dominates in Finland and the UK (80%).
- India and Thailand prefer watching news online (40%).
- The Philippines leads with 52% favouring video news.
Impact of Covid-19 on News Consumption
- There are alarming declines in both the reading and sharing of news in India. The data show that access to online news has sharply fallen by 12 % points between 2022 and 2023.
- Television viewership, especially among younger and urban individuals, has also decreased by 10%.
- The decline in news engagement can be linked, in part, to the diminishing influence of the Covid-19 pandemic since the relaxation of lockdown measures in April 2022.
Trust in News
- Trust in news in India has remained stagnant at 38% between 2021 and 2023, ranking among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.
- In countries such as Finland (69%) and Portugal (58%), trust levels are higher.
- On the other hand, countries with higher degrees of political polarization such as the United States (32%), Argentina (30%), Hungary (25%), and Greece (19%) have lower trust levels.