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Reuters Institute
Digital News Report 2023
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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Reuters Institute
Digital News Report 2023
Nic Newman with Richard Fletcher, Kirsten Eddy, Craig T. Robertson, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Supported by
Spanish translation supported by
Surveyed by
© Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
DOI:
10.60625/risj-p6es-hb13
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Contents
Foreword by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Methodology
Authorship and Research Acknowledgements
SECTION 1
Executive Summary and Key Findings
by Nic Newman
SECTION 2
Further Analysis and International Comparison
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
Attitudes to Algorithms and their Impact on News
Unpacking News Participation and Online
Engagement over Time
Sources and Drivers of News Media Criticism
The Importance of Public Service Media for
Individuals and for Society
News Podcasts: Who is Listening and What Formats
are Working?
31
32
36
40
44
48
9
5
6
7
3.17 Poland
3.18 Portugal
3.19 Romania
3.20 Slovakia
3.21 Spain
3.22 Sweden
3.23 Switzerland
3.24 Turkey
AMERICAS
3.25 United States
3.26 Argentina
3.27 Brazil
3.28 Canada
3.29 Chile
3.30 Colombia
3.31 Mexico
3.32 Peru
55
58
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
SECTION 4
References
157
ASIA-PACIFIC
3.33 Australia
3.34 Hong Kong
3.35 India
3.36 Indonesia
3.37 Japan
3.38 Malaysia
3.39 Philippines
3.40 Singapore
3.41 South Korea
3.42 Taiwan
3.43 Thailand
AFRICA
3.44 Kenya
3.45 Nigeria
3.46 South Africa
150
152
154
126
128
130
132
134
136
138
140
142
144
146
108
110
112
114
116
118
120
122
90
92
94
96
98
100
102
104
SECTION 3
Analysis by Country and Market
EUROPE
3.01 United Kingdom
3.02 Austria
3.03 Belgium
3.04 Bulgaria
3.05 Croatia
3.06 Czech Republic
3.07 Denmark
3.08 Finland
3.09 France
3.10 Germany
3.11
Greece
3.12 Hungary
3.13 Ireland
3.14 Italy
3.15 Netherlands
3.16 Norway
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
5
Foreword
This year’s
Reuters Institute Digital News Report
provides further
evidence that, even as much of the news industry globally has
struggled in the face of the first waves of the move to a digital,
mobile, and platform-dominated media environment, it now
faces a much more fundamental change driven by generations
who have grown up with and rely almost entirely on various
digital media.
Whether or not legacy media feel they have completed their
initial
digital transformation
from print- or broadcast-focused
to digitally focused brands with a compelling news website
and app, they now face a continual
transformation of digital
as
generations come of age who eschew direct discovery for all
but the most appealing brands, have little interest in many
conventional news offers oriented towards older generations’
habits, interests, and values, and instead embrace the more
participatory, personable, and personalised options offered
via platforms, often looking beyond legacy platforms to new
entrants (many of whom drive few referrals to news and do
not prioritise news).
While there are important differences between countries and
within generations, and no single uniform pattern of behaviour
and preferences, it is important to underline that we have
every reason to expect this to be a one-way change: people’s
information needs and interests evolve in the course of their life,
but their platform preferences rarely regress. Those born in the
1980s did not suddenly come to prefer landline phones over
mobiles when they became parents or bought a house, nor did
those born in the 1960s return to black-and-white television
when they entered middle age. 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.
The public is voting with its attention and money, and – despite
the very real reservations over uneven trustworthiness, the risks
of harassment and misinformation, and sometimes problematic
business and data protection practices – they are overwhelmingly,
everywhere, voting for digital media. That is the media environment
the public embraces, and the ‘new normal’ where journalists and
news media have to carve out their places if they want to connect
with the public.
Prof. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ)
The 46 markets we analyse in the
Digital News Report
account
for more than half the world’s population, and can perhaps
illuminate trends elsewhere. The increasing number and
diversity of markets covered – including 11 in Asia, five in South
America, three in Africa and North America, as well as 24 in
Europe – have led us to compare fewer data points across the
whole sample and to focus on meaningful comparisons across
markets that are broadly similar. We’ve provided more detail
about differences in polling samples in both the methodology
pages and the relevant country pages.
This report continues to benefit from a strong network of
partners and sponsors around the world. We are proud to have
the opportunity to work with a number of leading academics, as
well as media experts from the news industry. Our partners have
helped in a variety of different ways, checking questionnaires,
helping with interpretation, and in many cases publishing their
own reports.
Given the richness of the research, this report can only convey
a small part of the data and analysis. More detail is available on
our website reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk which contains
slide packs and charts, along with a licence that encourages
reuse, subject to attribution.
Making all this possible, we are hugely grateful to our sponsors:
the Google News Initiative, BBC News, Ofcom, the Broadcasting
Authority of Ireland (now the Coimisiún na Meán), the Dutch
Media Authority (CvdM), the Media Industry Research Foundation
of Finland, the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Korea Press Foundation,
Edelman UK, NHK, and the Reuters News Agency, as well as our
academic sponsors at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research/
Hans Bredow Institute, the University of Navarra, the University
of Canberra, the Centre d’études sur les médias, Québec, Canada,
and Roskilde University, Denmark. Fundación Gabo continues
to support the translation of the report into Spanish. We are
delighted that Code for Africa has joined our network of sponsors
to enable us to continue and in the future hopefully expand
our work in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Methodology
This study has been commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the
Study of Journalism to understand how news is being consumed in a
range of countries. Research was conducted by YouGov using an online
questionnaire at the end of January/beginning of February 2023.
• Samples were assembled using nationally representative
quotas for age, gender, and region in every market. Education
quotas were also applied in all markets except Kenya, India,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, and
Thailand. We also apply political quotas based on vote choice
in the most recent national election in around a third of our
markets, including the United States, Australia, and much of
Western Europe. The data in all markets were weighted to
targets based on census/industry accepted data.
• Data from India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are representative
of younger English-speakers and not the national population,
because it is not possible to reach other groups in a representative
way using an online survey. The survey was fielded mostly in
English in these markets,
1
and restricted to ages 18 to 50 in Kenya
and Nigeria. Findings should not be taken to be nationally
representative in these countries.
• The use of a non-probability sampling approach means that it is
not possible to compute a conventional ‘margin of error’ for
individual data points. However, differences of +/- 2 percentage
points (pp) or less are very unlikely to be statistically significant
and should be interpreted with a very high degree of caution. We
typically do not regard differences of +/- 2pp as meaningful, and
as a general rule we do not refer to them in the text. The same
applies to small changes over time.
• Surveys capture people’s self-reported behaviour, which does
not always reflect people’s actual behaviour due to biases and
imperfect recall. They are useful for capturing people’s opinions,
but these are subjective and aggregates reflect public opinion
rather than objective reality.
2
Even with relatively large sample
sizes it is not possible to meaningfully analyse many minority
groups. Some of our survey-based results will not match
industry data, which are often based on different
methodologies, such as web-tracking.
• A fuller description of the methodology, panel partners, and
a discussion of non-probability sampling techniques can be
found on our website along with the full questionnaire
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk.
Graph 1
Market
Europe
UK
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland*
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
• More generally, online samples will tend to under-represent the
news consumption habits of people who are older and less
affluent, meaning online use is typically over-represented and
traditional offline use under-represented. In this sense, it is
better to think of results as representative of the
online
population. In markets in Northern and Western Europe, where
internet penetration is typically over 95%, the differences
between the online population and national population will be
small, but in South Africa (58%) and India (60%), where internet
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
penetration is lower, the differences between the online
population and the national population will be large, meaning
we need to be cautious when comparing between markets.
Sample
size
Population
Internet
penetration
Market
Poland
Sample
size
2,030
2,010
2,107
2,093
2,031
2,034
2,037
2,016
2,081
2,014
2,047
2,150
2,013
2,036
2,029
2,010
Population
37.9m
10.1m
19m
5.5m
46.8m
10.2m
8.8m
85.8m
331m
45.9m
215m
37.7m
19.4m
51.8m
132.3m
33.7m
Internet
penetration
92%
88%
78%
90%
93%
97%
96%
85%
90%
91%
83%
94%
97%
83%
67%
87%
Market
Asia-Pacific
Australia
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand
Africa
Kenya
Nigeria
South Africa
Sample
size
Population
Internet
penetration
2,107
2,029
2,025
2,027
2,024
2,047
2,033
2,027
2,078
2,002
2,023
2,000
2,035
2,106
2,022
2,022
68.5m
9.1m
11.7m
6.9m
4m
10.7m
5.8m
5.6m
65.5m
84m
10.3m
9.6m
5m
60.3m
17.2m
5.5m
95%
88%
92%
70%
93%
87%
98%
94%
92%
94%
79%
89%
92%
91%
95%
98%
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Americas
USA
Argentina
Brazil
Canada*
Chile
Colombia
Mexico
Peru
2,025
2,023
2,016
2,012
2,009
2,015
2,284
2,025
2,003
2,037
2,028
2,025
2,025
2,013
26m
7.6m
1,414m
278.3m
127.2m
33m
112m
5.9m
51.3m
23.9m
70.1m
55.8m
211.4m
60m
90%
92%
60%
76%
93%
94%
91%
92%
97%
95%
88%
85%
73%
58%
Source: Internet World Stats (http:/
/www.internetworldstats.com).
*In Ireland and Canada we conducted a repoll of brand reach numbers offline in late March 2023 due to missing a brand in the original poll in each case.
We only used the repoll to deliver a number for the missing brand. All other numbers are taken from the January/February poll unless stated.
1
2
Respondents in India could choose to complete the survey in Hindi and respondents in Kenya could chose Swahili, but in both cases the vast majority selected an English survey.
From 2012 to 2020 we filtered out respondents who said that they had not consumed any news in the past month. From 2021 onwards we included this group, which generally has lower
interest in news. In previous years this group averaged around 2–3% of the starting sample in each market, meaning that the decision to include it has not affected comparative results in any
significant way. Some figures have been affected by one or two points in the UK, USA, and Australia, and we have taken this into account when interpreting changes involving these years.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
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Authorship and Research
Acknowledgements
Nic Newman
is Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute
for the Study of Journalism and is also a consultant on digital media,
working actively with news companies on product, audience, and
business strategies for digital transition. He writes an annual report
for the Institute on future media and technology trends.
Dr Richard Fletcher
is Director of Research at the Reuters Institute
for the Study of Journalism. He is primarily interested in global trends
in digital news consumption, the use of social media by journalists and
news organisations, and more broadly, the relationship between
computer-based technologies and journalism.
Dr Kirsten Eddy
is a postdoctoral research fellow in digital news at the
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. She studies the interplay
of journalism, politics, and digital media, and the role of identity in each.
Dr Craig T. Robertson
is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism whose interests include news trust
and credibility, fact-checking and verification, and how both partisan
attitudes and epistemic beliefs factor into these domains.
Prof. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
is Director of the Reuters Institute for
the Study of Journalism, Professor of Political Communication at the
University of Oxford, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the
International
Journal of Press/Politics
from 2015 to 2018. His work focuses on changes
in the news media, political communication, and the role of digital
technologies in both.
Market-level commentary and additional insight around media
developments have been provided by academic partners and by our
network of Reuters Journalist Fellows around the world. RISJ Senior
Research Associate Dr David Levy did invaluable work editing and further
developing many of the country profiles in this year’s report, as did
Giles Wilson. Additional expert analysis and interpretation of the survey
data were provided by the team at YouGov, in particular, Charlotte Clifford,
David Eastbury, Tibet Quinn, and Iyanu Taiwo.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
SECTION 1
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
9
SECTION 1
Executive Summary
and Key Findings
Nic Newman
Senior Research Associate,
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
This year’s report comes against the backdrop of a
global cost-of-living crisis, a continuing war in the
heart of Europe, and further climate instability across
the world. In this context, a strong supply of accurate,
well-funded, independent journalism remains
critical, but in many of the countries covered in our
survey, we find these conditions challenged by low
levels of trust, declining engagement, and an
uncertain business environment.
Our report aims to bring new insights on these issues at what is a
particularly difficult time for the industry as well as for many ordinary
people. We look in more detail what is
behind
low engagement and
selective news avoidance – and we explore public appetites for
approaches that might combat this. More specifically, we look at the
sources people use to inform themselves about their personal finances
and the extent to which different groups find this type of information
easy or difficult to understand.
In the light of the squeeze on household spending, we find that many
people have been rethinking how much they can afford to spend on
news media. We have conducted detailed qualitative research in
the UK, US, and Germany with consumers who have cancelled,
maintained, and started subscriptions in the last year to understand
the underlying motivations for signing up – as well as key barriers. In
our country and market pages, which combine industry developments
with local data, we see how different media companies are managing
the economic downturn with many accelerating their path to digital
by shifting resources further away from broadcast or print.
Perhaps the most striking findings in this year’s report relate to the
changing nature of social media, partly characterised by declining
engagement with traditional networks such as Facebook and the rise
of TikTok and a range of other video-led networks. Yet despite this
growing fragmentation of channels, and despite evidence that public
disquiet about misinformation and algorithms is at near record highs,
our dependence on these intermediaries continues to grow. Our data
show, more clearly than ever, how this shift is strongly influenced by
habits of the youngest generations, who have grown up with social
media and nowadays often pay more attention to influencers or
celebrities than they do to journalists, even when it comes to news.
In our extra analysis chapters this year, we’ve identified the most
popular news podcasts in around a dozen countries along with
the platforms that are most used to access this content. We also
explore increasing levels of criticism of the news media, often
driven by politicians and facilitated by social media. We also devote
a section to the particular case of public service media that have
been at the forefront of this criticism and face particular challenges
in delivering their universal mission in a fractious and fragmented
media environment.
This twelfth edition of our
Digital News Report,
which is based on
data from six continents and 46 markets, reminds us of the
different conditions in which journalism operates in many parts
of the world, but also about the common challenges faced by
publishers around weak audience engagement and low trust in
an age of abundant digital and social media. The overall story is
captured in this Executive Summary, followed by Section 2 with
chapters containing additional analysis, and then individual
country and market pages in Section 3.
A SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT
FINDINGS FROM OUR 2023 RESEARCH.
• Our data show how the various shocks of the last few years,
including the Ukraine war and the Coronavirus pandemic,
have accelerated structural shifts towards more digital,
mobile, and platform-dominated media environments, with
further implications for the business models and formats of
journalism.
• Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) now
say they prefer to start their news journeys with a website or
app – that’s down
10
percentage points since 2018. Publishers
in a few smaller Northern European markets have managed to
buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are showing a
weaker connection with news brands’ own websites and apps
than previous cohorts – preferring to access news via side-door
routes such as social media, search, or mobile aggregators.
• Facebook remains one of the most-used social networks
overall, but its influence on journalism is declining as it shifts
its focus away from news. It also faces new challenges from
established networks such as YouTube and vibrant youth-
focused networks such as TikTok. The Chinese-owned social
network reaches 44% of 18–24s across markets and 20% for
news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and
Latin America.
• When it comes to news, audiences say they pay more attention
to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than
journalists in networks like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
This contrasts sharply with Facebook and Twitter, where news
media and journalists are still central to the conversation.
• Much of the public is sceptical of the algorithms used to select
what they see via search engines, social media, and other
platforms. Less than a third (30%) say that having stories
selected for me on the basis of previous consumption is a good
way to get news, 6 percentage points lower than when we last
asked the question in 2016. Despite this, on average, users still
slightly prefer news selected this way to that chosen by editors
or journalists (27%), suggesting that worries about algorithms
are part of a wider concern about news and how it is selected.
• Despite hopes that the internet could widen democratic
debate, we find fewer people are now participating in online
news than in the recent past. Aggregated across markets, only
around a fifth (22%) are now active participators, with around
half (47%) not participating in news at all. In the UK and United
States, the proportion of active participators has fallen by
more than 10 percentage points since 2016. Across countries
we find that this group tends to be male, better educated, and
more partisan in their political views.
• Trust in the news has fallen, across markets, by a further
2 percentage points in the last year, reversing in many
countries the gains made at the height of the Coronavirus
pandemic. On average, four in ten of our total sample (40%)
say they trust most news most of the time. Finland remains
the country with the highest levels of overall trust (69%),
while Greece (19%) has the lowest after a year characterised
by heated arguments about press freedom and the
independence of the media.
• Public media brands are amongst those with the highest levels
of trust in many Northern European countries, but reach has
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
11
been declining with younger audiences. This is important
because we find that those that use these services most
frequently are more likely to see them as important
personally
and
for society.
These findings suggest that maintaining the
breadth of public service reach remains critical for future
legitimacy and especially with younger groups.
• Consumption of traditional media, such as TV and print,
continues to fall in most markets, with online and social
consumption not making up the gap. Our data show that
online consumers are accessing news less frequently than in
the past and are also becoming less interested. Despite the
political and economic threats facing many people, fewer than
half (48%) of our aggregate sample now say they are very or
extremely interested in news, down from 63% in 2017.
• Meanwhile, the proportion of news consumers who say they
avoid news, often or sometimes, remains close to all-time highs
at 36% across markets. We find that this group splits between
(a) those who are trying to periodically avoid
all sources
of news
and (b) those that are trying to specifically restrict their news
usage
at particular times
or
for certain topics.
News avoiders are
more likely to say they are interested in positive or solutions-
based journalism and less interested in the big stories of the day.
• With household budgets under pressure and a significant
part of the public satisfied with the news they can access for
free, there are signs that the growth in online news payment
may be levelling off. Across a basket of 20 richer countries,
17% paid for any online news – the same figure as last year.
Norway (39%) has the highest proportion of those paying,
with Japan (9%) and the United Kingdom (9%) amongst the
lowest. Amongst those cancelling their subscription in the last
year, the cost of living or the high price was cited most often
as a reason. In the United States, Germany, and the United
Kingdom, about half of non-subscribers say that
nothing
could
persuade them to pay for online news, with lack of interest or
perceived value remaining fundamental obstacles.
• As in previous years, we find that a large proportion of digital
subscriptions go to just a few upmarket national brands –
reinforcing the
winner takes most
dynamics that are often
associated with digital media. But in a number of countries,
including the United States, we are now seeing the majority
of those paying taking out
more than one
subscription. This
reflects the increased supply of discounted offers as well as the
introduction of
all-access
bundles in some markets.
• Across countries the majority of online users say they still
prefer to read the news rather than watch or listen to it. Text
provides more speed and control in accessing information,
but in a few countries, such as the Philippines and Thailand,
respondents now say they prefer video to text. Video news
consumption has been growing steadily across markets, with
most video content now accessed via third-party platforms
such as YouTube and Facebook.
• News podcasting continues to resonate with educated and
younger audiences but remains a minority activity overall.
Around a third (34%) access a podcast monthly, with 12%
accessing a show relating to news and current affairs. Our
research finds that deep dive podcasts, inspired by The Daily
from the
New York Times,
along with extended chat shows,
such as The Joe Rogan Experience, are the most widely
consumed across markets. We also identify the growing
popularity of video-led or hybrid news podcasts.
CHANGING PLATFORMS AND THE IMPLICATIONS
FOR PUBLISHERS
A running sore for news publishers over the last decade or more
has been the increasing influence of tech platforms and other
intermediaries on the way news is accessed and monetised.
Although search and social media play different roles, news access
has for some time been dominated by two giant companies: Google
and Facebook (now Meta), who at their height accounted for just
under half of online traffic to news sites.
3
Although the so-called
‘duopoly’ remains hugely consequential, our report this year shows
how this platform position is becoming a little
less
concentrated
in many markets, with more providers competing. The growing
popularity of digital audio and video is bringing new platforms
into play while some consumers have adopted less toxic and more
private messaging networks for communication. In some sense
these changes represent a ‘new normal’ where publishers need to
navigate an even more complex platform environment in which
attention is fragmented, where trust is low, and where participation
is even less open and representative.
Gateways to content over time
We continue to monitor the main access points to online news
and examine the impact on consumption with different groups.
Every year, we see direct access to apps and websites becoming
less important and social media becoming more important due to
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
their ubiquity and convenience. At an aggregate level, we reached
a tipping point in the last few years, with social media preference
(30%) now stretching its lead over direct access (22%).
PROPORTION THAT SAY EACH IS THEIR MAIN WAY OF GETTING
NEWS ONLINE (2018–2023) – ALL MARKETS
Direct access to news websites/apps
50%
Social media access
Graph 2
32%
25%
30%
22%
23%
Other gateways
(and change from 2018):
Search
Mobile alerts
Aggregators
Email
25% (+1)
9% (+3)
8% (+2)
5% (-1)
0%
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Q10a_new2017_rc.
Which of these was the main way in which you came across news in the last
week?
Base: All who used a news gateway in the last week in each market-year ≈ 2000. Note: Number
of markets grew from 36 in 2018 to 46 from 2021 onwards. Markets listed in online methodology.
But these are averages, and there remain substantial differences
across countries. News brands in some Northern European
markets still have strong direct connections with consumers
when it comes to online news, even though platforms are still
almost universally used in these markets for a range of other
purposes. By contrast, in parts of Asia, Latin America, and Africa,
social media is by far the most important gateway, leaving news
brands much more dependent on third-party traffic. In other
Asia-Pacific markets – such as Japan and Korea – home-grown
portals such as Naver and Yahoo! are the primary access points to
content, while in India and Indonesia, mobile news aggregators
play an important gateway role.
3
According to the online measurement site Parse.ly, which tracked aggregate data on referral traffic based on publishers in their network.
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Graph 3
12
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report
SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
2023
PROPORTION THAT SAY EACH IS THEIR MAIN WAY OF
GETTING NEWS ONLINE – SELECTED MARKETS
Direct
Finland
Mostly
direct
Norway
Denmark
Sweden
Thailand
Mostly
social
Philippines
Chile
Peru
South Korea
Deeply
aggregated
Japan
Taiwan
India
0%
10
7
8
13
10
6
12
10
11
14
12
28
25%
13
12
17
20
Social
Search + aggregators
63
59
50
48
24
23
25
21
26
18
53
52
49
64
18
16
This reduced dependence on direct access is mirrored by
increased use of social media for news. In the UK 41% of 18–24s
say social media is now their main source of news (43% across
markets), up from 18% in 2015. These changes are not confined
to these so-called ‘social natives’, with some young millennials
showing increased dependence on platforms and social media.
The problems publishers face in engaging young audiences is
only going to get harder over time.
Social network fragmentation
Dependence on social media may be growing, but it is not necessarily
the same old networks. Turning to the 12 countries we have been
tracking since 2014 we find that in aggregate, Facebook usage for
any purpose (57%) is down 8pp since 2017. Instagram (+2pp), TikTok
(+3pp), and Telegram (+5pp) are the only networks to have grown in
the last year, with much of this coming from younger groups.
Despite Elon Musk’s idiosyncratic stewardship of Twitter, the
network’s overall weekly reach remained stable at 22% when
our survey was in the field, even if engagement levels may have
dipped. There has been no mass exodus to Mastodon, which does
not even register in most markets and is used by just 2% in the
United States and Germany.
But there have been much more dramatic shifts in the networks used
by younger audiences in the last few years. In the following chart, we
illustrate how interest in Facebook has waned much faster for under-
25s, with attention shifting first to Instagram and Snapchat and
now to TikTok. The controversial
OF JOURNALISM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY
Chinese-owned
/
app has overtaken
GRAPHS
Twitter and Snapchat with this group and now has a similar reach to
Facebook itself. Other networks such as Discord (15%) and Twitch
(12%) are also more widely used by this demographic.
Spain
66
65
50
43
50%
75%
100%
Q10a_new2017_rc.
Which of these was the main way in which you came across news in the
last week?
Base: All who used a news gateway in the last week in each market ≈ 2000.
Graph 4
0%
50%
Leaving aside market differences, we also find substantial differences
by age group. In almost every case, we find that younger users are
less likely to go directly to a news site or app and more likely to use
US
PROPORTION OF 18–24s THAT USE EACH SOCIAL NETWORK
social media or other intermediaries. In analysing this further we find
FOR ANY PURPOSE IN THE LAST WEEK (2014–2023) –
that the
34%
changes we see in direct vs. social seem to be driven
annual
AVERAGE OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
UK
less by older individuals changing their behaviours and more by
18–24 cliff edge started in 2018,
which is
emerging behaviours of younger groups. The following chart for the
when Instagram and TikTok started to grow
75%
72%
25%
UK shows that over-35s (orange line) have hardly changed their
19%
access
21%
19%
preferences over time, but that the 18–24 group (blue line) has become
60%
REUTERS
14%
less likely to use a news website or app. This represents
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
54%
significantly
50%
10%
an influx into our survey of more ‘social natives’ who grew up in the age
38%
of social and messaging apps, and seem to be displaying very different
38%
35%
33%
33%
behaviours as a result.
30%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
25%
21%
27%
14%
0%
5%
5%
Graph 5
PROPORTION THAT ACCESSED ONLINE NEWS BY GOING
DIRECT TO A NEWS WEBSITE OR APP IN THE LAST WEEK
(BY AGE) – UK
100%
18–24
35+
Coronavirus
e ect
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Facebook
Snapchat
Twitter
Telegram
Instagram
WhatsApp
TikTok
75%
50%
53%
52%
52%
25%
24%
Gap opening
up between
18–24s and
the rest
Q12A.
Which, if any, of the following have you used for any purpose in the last week?
Base:
18–24s in each country-year in UK, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Finland,
Japan, Australia, Brazil, and Ireland ≈ 200. Note: No data from Australia or Ireland in 2014.
0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
This chart illustrates how attention has shifted, from a few big
18–24
networks that drove substantial traffic to news websites to
a much wider range of apps that require more investment in
bespoke content and offer fewer opportunities to post links.
35+
Q10.
Thinking about how you got news online (via computer, mobile or any device) in the last
week, which were the ways in which you came across news stories?
Base: 18–24s/35+ in each
year ≈ 200/1400.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
13
Graph 6
Turning to
news usage
specifically across all ages, Facebook remains
The role of news and journalists in different networks
the most important network (aggregated across 12 countries) at
This year we have returned to questions we asked first in 2021 to
28%, but is now 14 points lower than its 2016 peak (42%). Facebook
understand more about where audiences pay attention when using
has been distancing itself from news for some time, reducing the
different networks.
7
We find that, while mainstream journalists
percentage of news stories people see in their feed (3% according to
often lead conversations around news in Twitter and Facebook,
the company’s latest figures from March 2023),
4
but in the last year
they
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM /
like Instagram,
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
struggle to get attention in newer networks
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
it has also been scaling back on direct payments to publishers and
Snapchat, and TikTok, where personalities, influencers, and
other schemes that supported journalism. The growth of YouTube
ordinary people are often more prominent, even when it comes
as a news source is often less noticed, but together with the rise
to conversations around news.
of TikTok demonstrates the shift towards video-led networks.
Graph 8
PROPORTION THAT USED EACH SOCIAL NETWORK FOR
NEWS IN THE LAST WEEK (2014–2023) – AVERAGE OF
SELECTED COUNTRIES
50%
42%
36%
25%
16%
9%
7%
0%
2%
6%
28%
20%
16%
14%
11%
6%
6%
2%
PROPORTION THAT PAY ATTENTION TO EACH SOURCE FOR
NEWS (BY SOCIAL NETWORK) – ALL MARKETS
TikTok
YouTube
Twitter
34
55
39
43
Mainstream news
WhatsApp
43
Snapchat
Instagram
43
Facebook Messenger
27
Mainstream news
27%
24%
1%
1%
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Facebook
Snapchat
Facebook Messenger
Twitter
WhatsApp
YouTube
TikTok
Facebook
Twitter
24
38
Ordinary people
Instagram
Facebook
37
42
30
26
YouTube
29
42
31
25
52
33
36
30
25
Snapchat
35
33
31
25
TikTok
44
0%
25%
50%
75%
55
55
45
Mainstream news
Q12B.
Which, if any, of the following have you used for news in the last week?
Base: Total sample in
each country-year in UK, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Australia,
Brazil, and Ireland ≈ 2000. Note: No data from Australia or Ireland in 2014.
Personalities
Graph 7
2%
Although the averages for TikTok are relatively low, usage is
much higher with younger groups and in some Asia-Pacific, Latin
American, and African countries. It
JOURNALISM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF
has played a
/
role in spreading
both information and misinformation in recent elections in Kenya
5
and Brazil
6
and has grown strongly in parts of Eastern Europe,
Instagram
where the Ukrainian conflict increased its profile.
Personalities
PROPORTION THAT USED TIKTOK FOR NEWS IN THE LAST WEEK
30%
Darker colours represent higher levels of audience usage of TikTok for news.
Grey indicates markets not covered, or TikTok not operating.
Younger age profile
18–24
25–34
35–44
45–54
55+
6%
14%
12%
10%
20%
Personalities
Personalities
Ordinary people
100%
Mainstream news outlets/mainstream journalists
Smaller or alternative news sources
Highest adoption for news/any purpose
Peru
Thailand
Kenya
30% / 48%
30% /51%
29% / 54%
Malaysia
24% / 42%
South Africa 22% / 50%
Philippines 21% / 42%
Lowest adoption
Denmark
Japan
Germany
2% / 11%
3% / 9%
3% / 12%
Q12_Social_sources.
You said that you use <social network> for news … When it comes to news on
<social network>, which of these sources do you generally pay most attention to? Please select all
that apply.
Base: Randomly selected news users of Facebook = 24,711, Twitter = 6046, YouTube = 16,543,
Instagram = 8023, Snapchat = 932, TikTok = 4322.
Politicians/political activists
Personalities (incl. celebrities and influencers)
Ordinary people
Q12B.
Which, if any, of the following have you used for news in the last week?
Base: Total sample
in each market ≈ 2000. Note: TikTok has been banned in India and does not operate in Hong Kong.
4
5
6
7
https:/
/about.fb.com/news/2023/03/news-industry-reaps-considerable-economic-benefit-from-facebook/
https:/
/www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/10/tiktok-videos-stoke-tensions-ahead-of-kenya-vote-says-report
https:/
/www.codastory.com/disinformation/eletion-disinformation-brazil-tiktok/
In 2021 we only gave respondents one option but in 2023 we allowed multiple options to be selected so the data are not directly comparable.
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14
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Publishers have been unsure whether and how to adapt their
We’ve also explored for the first time the
news topics
that resonate
storytelling to these new platforms. As a recent Reuters Institute
in different networks. Again, we find big differences here in terms
report on the subject showed (Newman 2022), about half of top
of audience expectations and interests (see chart left). Twitter
publishers are now creating content for TikTok, even as others are
users are more likely to pay attention to hard news subjects
holding back over concerns about Chinese government influence –
such as politics and business news than users of other networks,
as well as the lack of monetisation. But fears about the unchecked
whereas TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook users are slightly
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE
on the
OF JOURNALISM
the potential for
STUDY
platform, and
/ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
spread of misinformation
more likely to consume fun posts (or satire) that relate to news.
connecting with hard-to-reach younger audiences, have convinced
It is also striking to note the ambivalence, and possibly fatigue,
some news organisations to stake a presence despite the risks.
over the war in Ukraine across all networks. Despite the topic’s
importance, we find lower levels of attention when compared
with fun news, national politics, or even news about business
PROPORTION THAT PAY ATTENTION TO EACH NEWS TOPIC
and economics. It is not clear if this relates to falling interest in
(BY SOCIAL NETWORK) – ALL MARKETS
general, algorithmic biases, or a mix of the two.
Graph 9
32
59
37
Twitter
37
35
38
28
45
Graph 10
Digging further into the data, we find interesting country and
regional differences. TikTok is used much more for political news
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
in Peru, where it has been used by students to organise political
protests, as well as in Kenya and Brazil, than it is in the United
States, Canada, or Singapore.
PROPORTION THAT PAY ATTENTION TO EACH NEWS TOPIC
ON TIKTOK – SELECTED COUNTRIES
60
16
Peru
31
31
26
51
33
36
37
47
44
More
politics
46
38
35
35
40
32
35
39
36
35
38
45
Facebook
26
Fun
Clim
YouTube
24
Brazil
Hea
24
24
Instagram
31
27
27
35
37
42
16
Kenya
35
33
53
27
24
USA &
Canada
35
36
52
27
19
Singapore
0%
46
50%
Social justice
Fun news (news that makes me laugh)
75%
100%
28
28
59
25%
National politics
War in Ukraine
Health
Climate
Fun news
Q12_Social_subjects_TikTok.
You said that you use TikTok for news … When it comes to news on
TikTok, what types of content do you mostly pay attention to? Please select all that apply.
Base:
Randomly selected TikTok news users in Peru = 274, Brazil = 117, Kenya = 205, USA & Canada = 112, Singapore
= 105. Note: Differences of less than +/-10pp should be treated with caution due to small base sizes.
Ukr
Poli
Snapchat
31
31
28
31
38
36
24
Less
politics
TikTok
34
33
33
33
50%
75%
100%
0%
25%
National politics
War in Ukraine
Health
Business & economics
Climate
Q12_Social_subjects.
You said that you use <social network> for news … When it comes to news on
<social network>, what types of content do you mostly pay attention to? Please select all that apply.
Base: Randomly selected news users of Facebook = 24,711, Twitter = 6046, YouTube = 16,543, Instagram =
8023, Snapchat = 932, TikTok = 4322.
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2841850_0015.png
Graph 12
Growing scepticism towards algorithms when it comes to news
TikTok’s powerful personalised content feed has refocused
attention on the way algorithms can affect our media diets –
especially those that deliver ‘more of what you have consumed
in the past’. We last looked at public perceptions of such
technologies in 2016 when Facebook’s then novel approach to
surfacing popular news stories was at its peak.
Reuters Institute for
THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
2023
15
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report
SUMMARY GRAPHS
PROPORTION THAT WORRY ABOUT MISSING OUT DUE TO
PERSONALISATION – AVERAGE OF SELECTED MARKETS
Graph 11
Since then, we find that people in many countries are less happy
out on important
out on challenging
about the selection of
THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
from
content both from algorithms and
SUMMARY GRAPHS
information
viewpoints
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
journalists. These changes are not significant in all markets,
17% don’t worry • 35% neutral
17% don’t worry • 37% neutral
but there has been a bigger fall in satisfaction in content-based
algorithms amongst younger users (who rely the most on them).
Q10D_2016b_1/2. To what extent do you agree with the following statement? I worry that
more personalised news may mean that I miss out on important information/challenging
viewpoints.
Base: Total samples in USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland,
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary,
Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Brazil = 53,039.
worry about missing
48%
worry about missing
46%
PROPORTION THAT AGREE THAT HAVING STORIES
AUTOMATICALLY SELECTED FOR THEM BASED ON ‘WHAT I
HAVE CONSUMED IN THE PAST’ IS A GOOD WAY TO GET NEWS
– UK AND USA
75%
UK
USA
50%
49
19pp
decline
30
48
13pp
decline
35
32
Given lower satisfaction with some algorithmic selection, it is not
surprising to find that around 65% of younger users (under-35s)
and 55% of older ones (35+) have tried to influence story selection
by following or unfollowing, muting or blocking, or changing
other settings.
For most people – across ages and countries – the key objective
is not to make the feed more fun or more interesting but rather
to make it more reliable, less toxic, and with greater diversity
of views (see chart below). Yet, despite these clearly stated
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
preferences, social media companies competing for attention
and advertising continue to optimise for engagement, with
less attention to increasing quality, reliability, or diversity.
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE
EACH WHEN CHANGING WHAT NEWS AND INFORMATION
THEY SEE ON ONLINE PLATFORMS – SELECTED COUNTRIES
Get more
reliable content
45
46
43
43
43
39
38
33
22
28
27
21
24
28
23
8
14
13
0%
25%
50%
75%
UK
UK
USA
Germany
US
25%
24
16
26
0%
Under-35s
35+
2016
Under-35s
2023
35+
Graph 13
Q10D_2016a_2.
To what extent do you agree with the following statement? Having stories
automatically selected for me on the basis of what I have consumed in the past is a good
way to get news. Base: U35s/35+ in each year in UK ≈ 449/1658, USA ≈ 603/1478.
Across ages, the proportion who agree that algorithmically
selected news is a good way to get news has shrunk compared
to 2016, while the proportion who disagree has stayed roughly
the same – meaning that more people now select the neutral
middle option. This suggests that for some people a generally
positive view of algorithmic news selection has shifted towards
ambivalence over time.
The reasons for this change are not entirely clear. We know from
last year’s qualitative research that many young people feel
overwhelmed by the negative nature of news in their social media
feeds. We also know that the imposition of algorithmic instead
of pure reverse chronology feeds has caused disquiet amongst
a section of the most-heavy social media users in Facebook
and more recently in Twitter. In interviews, respondents also
frequently express fears that social media may be pushing them
down rabbit holes, though this could be related to increased
commentary about these issues as much as actual experience.
Either way, in this year’s data we find continued high levels of
concern that ‘overly personalised’ news could lead to missing out
on important information or being exposed to fewer challenging
viewpoints (similar to 2016).
Ger
See more diverse
perspectives
See less toxic
content
See less negative
content
Make it more
interesting
Make it
more fun
Q2_Algorithms_2023.
You said that you try to change what news and information you see on
online platforms. What are you trying to achieve? Please select all that apply.
Base: All those that
tried to change what news they see via algorithms in UK = 910, USA = 1205, Germany = 996.
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16
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
None of this means that audiences prefer news selected by
journalists and editors, perhaps because many see these
traditional sources as also laden with agendas and biases.
Indeed, for all the criticism of algorithms, it is notable that
content based on previous reading/watching history is still
preferred, on average, when compared with selection by
journalists across all ages and segments.
Overall, these data highlight general audience dissatisfaction
with how content is selected for them – and perhaps an
opportunity for publishers to create something better. Many
news organisations are now exploring how to mix their editorial
judgement and values with algorithms in a way that delivers
more relevant, reliable, and valuable content for consumers.
For further analysis see Section 2.1: Attitudes to Algorithms
and their Impact on News
Participation in open networks is declining and becoming
less representative
This year we have also explored changes in participation over time
in the light of the ongoing reduction in the prominence of news on
Facebook and suggestions that engagement may also be reducing
in Twitter. Participation was hailed as one of the defining features
of Web 2.0 (the social web), breaking with ‘we-publish-you-read’
approaches to journalism – part of protest movements such as the
Arab Spring, #MeToo, and #BlackLivesMatter, amongst others.
A further aspect of participation uncovered by our analysis is that
a relatively small group of engaged users has a disproportionate
influence over political and cultural debates – and that this group
has become smaller and more concentrated over time. We have
segmented our entire sample into those who
actively participate
in news by posting and commenting, those who mostly
reactively
participate
by liking and sharing, and those who don’t participate
at all, a group that we call
passive consumers.
Across markets, only around a fifth (22%) are now active participators,
with around half (47%) not participating in news at all. The proportion
of active participators has fallen by about 10 percentage points in
countries like the UK and United States since 2016. In the UK only
around one in ten now actively participates in online news, but their
activities often seem to heavily influence the mainstream media
agenda and shape
FOR THE STUDY
Across countries we find that this
REUTERS INSTITUTE
wider debates.
OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
group tends to be male, better educated, and more partisan in their
political views in almost every country – the same, unrepresentative
demographic profile many news media cater to.
PROFILE OF ACTIVE PARTICIPATORS – ALL MARKETS
More
politically motivated
50%
Graph 15
More likely to be
men
25%
32
26
22
25
32
25%
19%
Graph 14
We find that many measures of open participation, such as
0%
sharing and commenting, have declined across countries, with a
Very Fairly Centre Fairly
right-
left-
left-
minority of active users making most of the noise. Looking back,
wing
wing wing
we can detect a period of peak sharing in some markets between
2016 and 2019, primarily driven by Facebook and by divisive
Higher levels of
education
events such as the election of Donald Trump in the United
States, the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom, and the
50%
vote on Catalan independence in Spain. But since then, online
participation has shifted to some extent into closed networks
such as WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and Discord, where people
25%
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
26
can have private or semi-private conversations with trusted
20
18
friends in a less toxic atmosphere.
0%
Low
Medium
High
Very
right-
wing
Countries with
more
active participators
Thailand
Philippines
India
36%
34%
34%
Countries with
fewer
active participators
Germany
UK
Japan
11%
10%
6%
PROPORTION THAT SHARE A NEWS STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
IN AN AVERAGE WEEK (2015-2023) – SELECTED COUNTRIES
UK
50%
USA
Spain
Period of political
turbulence
Catalan independence vote
Q13.
During an average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate in
news coverage? Please select all that apply.
Q1F.
Some people talk about ‘left’, ‘right’, and ‘centre’ to
describe parties and politicians. With this in mind, where would you place yourself on the following
scale?
Education.
What is your highest level of education?
Base: Men/Women = 45,938/47,957; Very
left-wing/Fairly left-wing/Centre/Fairly right-wing/Very right-wing = 4447/10,497/46,542/8974/3499; Low/
Medium/High education = 12,522/34,950/34,182. Note: Active participators are those that comment on a
Spain
news story in a social network or comment on a news story on a news website.
34%
25%
21%
14%
Trump elected
19%
19%
10%
Brexit and a ermath
The group that participates in news has always been different
from the general population, but these data suggest that
UK
online participation may have become more influenced by
unrepresentative politically committed groups over the last
few years as mainstream users disconnect or move some of
their discussions to more private spaces. Publishers need to be
aware of these changes and find ways to broaden and deepen
engagement with the more passive or reactive majority.
For further analysis see Section 2.2: Unpacking News Participation
and Online Engagement over Time
US
0%
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Q13.
During an average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate
in news coverage? Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each country-year ≈ 2000.
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17
Misinformation and disinformation
The platform changes we have described, including the switch
of attention to new networks, do not seem to be lessening
public fears about misinformation and disinformation. Across
markets, well over half (56%) say they worry about identifying
the difference between what is real and fake on the internet
when it comes to news – up 2 percentage points on last year.
Those who say they
mainly
use social media as a source of news
are much more worried (64%) than people who don’t use it at all
(50%) while many countries with the highest levels of concern
also tend to have high levels of social media news use. This is
not to say that social
THE STUDY
causes
misinformation, but
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
media use
OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Platform shifts summarised
documented problems on these platforms and greater exposure
to a wider range of sources does seem to have an impact on how
Taken together, what are we to make of these changes in the
confident people feel about the information they come across.
platform environment? Our reliance on social media continues to
grow, but a growing variety of different platforms now competes
PROPORTION CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT IS REAL AND WHAT
to serve different purposes in our lives, with news often becoming
IS FAKE ON THE INTERNET WHEN IT COMES TO NEWS –
less central to how they work. At the same time, we seem to be less
SELECTED REGIONS
happy about the way news content is surfaced (algorithms), the
accuracy of the content (misinformation), and the quality of debate
Africa
77
(participation). Newer platforms like Instagram and TikTok, with
North America
65
(+2)
more visual content, are optimised better for younger users, but
concerned
Latin America
62
they often require more bespoke investment from publishers with
Average across
Asia-Pacific
56
all markets
little return in terms of traffic or revenue. With further innovation
Europe
53
on the way, fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation,
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
publishers will need to be more focused than ever on defining
how these intermediaries can help drive new users and deeper
Q_FAKE_NEWS_1.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement.
connections whilst contributing to their core businesses.
Thinking about online news, I am concerned about what is real and what is fake on the
Levels of perceived misinformation around climate change
are around three times higher in the United States (35%) than
they are in Japan (12%). Some prominent politicians, opinion
writers in the media, and groups aligned with fossil fuel interests
continue to disregard the scientific consensus and belittle green
policies. Environmental groups say climate change denialism
has been making a ‘stark comeback’ on social media, with
misleading advertisements on Facebook and other networks and
viral hashtags such as #climatescam on Twitter, which critics say
has been failing to properly moderate harmful content since the
takeover by Elon Musk.
8
Graph 16
56%
internet.
Base: Total sample in Africa = 6063, North America = 4231, Latin America = 12,149,
Asia-Pacific = 22,477, Europe = 48,975.
Graph 17
When looking at the types of misinformation that people claim to
see, we find that dubious health claims around COVID-19, including
Our country pages this year (Section 3) are full of stories of
from anti-vaccination groups, are still widespread, along with false
industry cost-cutting, journalistic layoffs and the slimming
or misleading information about politics. In Slovakia, one of the
down (or closure) of print editions due to a combination of rising
countries bordering Ukraine, almost half of our sample said
SUMMARY
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
they had
GRAPHS
costs and lower than expected advertising revenues. These
seen misinformation about the Ukraine conflict in the previous week,
pressures – along with the decline in traffic from social networks
around twice the proportion that said this in the UK, United States,
such as Facebook and Twitter – have also affected digital born
or Japan.
brands, with the closure of BuzzFeed News and Vice Media
filing for bankruptcy. These companies had pioneered a model
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY SAW FALSE OR MISLEADING
of ad-supported, socially optimised news that had at one stage
INFORMATION ABOUT EACH IN THE LAST WEEK –
threatened to upend the industry.
SELECTED COUNTRIES
26
18
COVID-19
31
34
30
22
35
42
41
42
USA
UK
Slovakia
Japan
BUSINESS PRESSURES GROW AMID DOWNTURN,
SUBSCRIPTIONS STALL
Politics
Against this background, it is not surprising that many traditional
publishers have been trying to refocus on recurring reader
revenue models such as subscription and membership. These
approaches have been a rare industry bright spot over the last
few years, with upmarket newspaper brands such as the
New York
Times
now attracting more than 6 million digital-only subscribers
to its news products alone.
9
The
Digital News Report
has been tracking the proportion paying for
online news for almost a decade in the richer, newspaper-centric
countries that have been leading this trend. We do not report
subscription numbers in African countries, India, or a few other
markets where we feel the sample is not sufficiently representative.
As in previous years, we have focused our reporting on a basket of
20 countries where publishers have been most active and where
the concept of paying for online news is well understood.
Climate change
12
War in Ukraine
0%
17
19
21
26
45
25%
50%
75%
Q_FAKE_NEWS_2021a.
Have you seen false or misleading information about any of the following
topics, in the last week? Please select all that apply. Base: Total sample in each country ≈ 2000.
8
9
https:/
/www.theverge.com/2023/1/19/23562269/climate-change-denial-social-media-meta-facebook-instagram-twitter
6.3m news subscribers in 4th quarter of 2022. https:/
/www.statista.com/statistics/315041/new-york-times-company-digital-subscribers/
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2841850_0018.png
Graph 18
18
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report
SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
2023
PROPORTION THAT PAID FOR ONLINE NEWS IN THE LAST YEAR
– SELECTED COUNTRIES
17%
average
Norway
Sweden
Australia
Finland
USA
Denmark
Switzerland
Netherlands
Belgium
Ireland
Poland
Austria
Spain
Italy
Canada
Germany
Portugal
France
Japan
UK
0%
9
9
25%
50%
15
15
14
14
13
12
11
11
11
11
-4pp
-3pp
17
17
-4pp
19
22
21
21
+4pp
across all 20 countries
39
33
Graph 20
As in previous years, a
winner takes most
dynamic persists in many
markets. In Finland half of all ongoing online news subscribers
(53%) pay for
Helsingin Sanomat,
the country’s paper of record. In
the United States, the
New York Times
(36% of ongoing subscribers)
has stretched its lead over the
Washington Post
and the
Wall Street
Journal
and is building a significant
JOURNALISM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
2023
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF
subscription
/
base in other
English-speaking markets such as Canada and Ireland. Elsewhere
we find subscriptions are primarily national and tend to be widely
spread across a range of publications.
PROFILE OF ONGOING DIGITAL NEWS SUBSCRIBERS –
SELECTED MARKETS
Country
Top national titles
Norway
VG, Aftenposten, Dagbladet
Sweden
Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter,
Expressen
Australia
Australian, Guardian
Australia, Herald Sun, SMH
USA
New York Times, Washington Post
Finland
Helsingin Sanomat,
Iltalehti Plus
Denmark
Berlingske, Politiken,
Ekstrabladet
Switzerland
Tages-Anzeiger, NZZ
Netherlands
De Telegraaf, AD,
Volkskrant
Belgium
Het Laatste Nieuws, Le Soir,
De Morgen
%
paying
Median
% subscribe
number of
to regional/
subscriptions local titles
% subscribe
to foreign
titles
39
33
22
21
21
19
17
17
15
15
14
13
12
11
11
11
11
9
9
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
50
40
54
19
40
19
43
53
20
6
15
9
17
12
25
8
19
n/a
10
4
6
11
22
3
4
15
3
4
48
6
6
8
39
11
10
5
n/a
4
Q7a.
Have you paid for online news content, or accessed a paid-for online news service in the last
year? (This could be a digital subscription, combined digital/print subscription, a donation, or
one-off payment for an article or app or e-edition).
Base: Total sample in each country ≈ 2000.
Graph 19
Ireland
Irish Times, Irish Independent,
In these markets, the average proportion making any online news
New York Times
payment has remained at 17% for the second year in a row – raising
Austria
Die Presse, Kronen Zeitung,
Der Standard
questions about whether we may have, for now, reached the
Spain
El País, El Mundo,
peak of the subscription trend, at least for current subscription
La Vanguardia, Marca
offers. There are statistically significant falls in Belgium (-4) and
Italy
Corriere della Sera,
Canada (-4) and a rise in Australia (+4) but otherwise there is little
La Repubblica
movement in headline rates compared with last year, and our
Canada
Globe & Mail, Toronto Star,
New York Times
over-time chart (below) seems to confirm a levelling off process
Germany
Bild, Die Welt, Der Spiegel,
underway. The countries
STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE
with the biggest proportion paying for
FAZ, SZ
news, with the exception of the United States, tend to be smaller
Portugal
Público, Expresso,
markets with a high concentration of publishers, most of which
Correio da Manhã, Observador
introduced paywalls around the same time.
France
Le Monde, Le Figaro, Mediapart
Japan
Nikkei, Asahi Shimbun Digital
UK
Telegraph, Times of London,
Guardian
PROPORTION THAT PAID FOR ONLINE NEWS IN THE LAST
YEAR (2016-2023) – SELECTED COUNTRIES
50%
More/
tighter
paywalls
Coronavirus
bumps in
some
countries
Mixed picture,
some increase,
some decline
Q7_SUBS_name_2022. You said you have paid a subscription/membership to a digital news
service in the last year … Which of the following did you subscribe to? Please select all that
apply.
Base: Ongoing online news subscribers ranging from Norway = 589 to UK = 153.
39%
33%
25%
27%
20%
11%
10%
9%
8%
7%
21%
17%
11%
11%
9%
2017
UK
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
0%
2016
USA
Norway
France
Sweden
Germany
Switzerland
In most countries, the majority of subscribers only pay for one
publication, but in the United States around half (56%) pay for two or
Norway
more – often a national and local paper combination. Other second
Switzerland
subscriptions include political and cultural magazines such as the
Atlantic
and the
New Yorker,
partisan digital outlets such as the Epoch
Germany
Times and passion-based titles such as the Athletic. We also see
France
growing levels of payment for platform-based news subscription
products such as Apple News+ (18% of US subscribers). We have
UK
started to see more second subscriptions in other markets including
US
Australia, Spain, and France, perhaps due to the greater availability
of low-price trial offers.
In the United States 8% of subscribers pay for a newsletter written
by an individual journalist or influencer and 5% pay for a podcaster
or YouTuber. This trend is still largely confined to the US.
Sweden
27%
24%
Q7a.
Have you paid for online news content, or accessed a paid-for online news service in the last
year? (This could be a digital subscription, combined digital/print subscription, a donation, or one-off
payment for an article or app or e-edition).
Base: Total sample in each country-year ≈ 2000. Please note
the question may under-represent newspaper purchase in any high-subscription countries, as many of those
who pay quarterly/annually probably would have answered no. Year-on-year comparisons should be valid.
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2841850_0019.png
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
19
The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on news subscriptions
Graph 21
Although headline levels are largely unchanged, we find a large
amount of underlying change, much of it driven by cost pressures.
Around one in five news subscribers (23% on average) say they
have cancelled at least one of their ongoing news publications,
My free trial ran out, but I resubscribed when I could
while a similar number say they have negotiated a cheaper price
find another free trial.
(23%) At the same time, others have taken up new subscriptions,
M, 39, USA
often using a cheap trial offer. Given the relatively small number of
respondents these findings are based on, and the very real variation
According to our data, around half of subscribers are
maintained
from publisher to publisher and market to market, the findings
subscribers,
who are confident about value and are unlikely to
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
cannot necessarily be generalised, but they clearly show that, while
churn. These tend to be older and less price-sensitive customers.
the headline number of subscribers have stayed the same, there is
But that leaves a significant proportion of
price-sensitive subscribers
often a considerable amount of churn at a title level.
who are shopping around for deals and regularly reassessing value.
PROPORTION OF ONGOING ONLINE NEWS SUBSCRIBERS
THAT HAVE DONE EACH IN THE LAST YEAR – SELECTED
COUNTRIES
Kept the same
Cancelled
Renegotiated price
Taken out additional
subscriptions
0%
10
20
17
19
18
19
28
28
25
25%
UK
USA
50%
Germany
75%
100%
38
50
44
The deal ended, so it became more expensive to me,
so I decided to cut the cost. I also wasn’t really using it
as much since I get so much for free on Twitter.
M, 27, USA
This suggests that churn is likely to be a major problem this year
and beyond.
Reasons to subscribe to a news publication
cancelled or
renegotiated
in the USA
(32% UK,
34% Germany)
47%
Graph 22
Across markets, the most important stated reason to subscribe
US
is to get access to better quality or more distinctive journalism
UK
(51% on average, 65% in the US) than can be obtained for free.
A second reason, which is particularly prevalent in the United
States, is to help fund good journalism, perhaps because
European consumers feel they have already paid for this though
their taxes or public media licence fees. Identification with the
brand and its politics
THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM /
to subscribe in
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
is a very important reason
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
the UK and US, but much less important in Germany. Finally,
games and member benefits are important factors for some,
along with a good user experience for the website and app.
PROPORTION THAT SAY EACH ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT
REASONS WHY THEY PAID FOR ONLINE NEWS IN THE LAST
YEAR – SELECTED COUNTRIES
Better quality or
distinctive content
Help fund good
journalism
Identi cation with
brand/journalists
Games, puzzles, and
non-news features
0%
UK
Germany
Q2_Pay_2023_sub.
Still thinking about paying for online news ... and thinking specifically about
ongoing online news subscriptions ... which, if any, of the following have you done in the last year?
Please select all that apply.
Base: Ongoing online news subscribers in Germany = 155, USA = 382, UK = 155.
In qualitative responses, the cost-of-living crisis emerged as the main
stated reason for cancellation.
48
65
44
29
38
30
44
47
30
21
25
16
25%
USA
Brand and political
identity are big
factors in
UK
and
US
subscription markets
Quality content is a big
factor in the
US
market,
as free sources have
often relied on clickbait
and shallow analysis
Germ
US
UK
I was spending too much on online subscriptions.
I wanted to cut some cost; mainly I just couldn’t afford
it anymore.
F, 24, USA
With the cost-of-living crises, I cannot afford more than
one subscription.
F, 33, UK
Across countries, however, the underlying reason for cancelling was
that people simply weren’t using the subscription enough to justify
the cost or they didn’t have enough time. At a fundamental level,
news media that struggle to get people to pay attention to them will
have an even harder time convincing people to pay.
50%
Germany
75%
100%
Q1_Pay_2023.
You said that you have paid for access to online news in the last year ... What are
the most important reasons for this? Please select all that apply. Base: Ongoing online news
subscribers in Germany = 155, USA = 382, UK = 155.
I had more subscriptions than I had time to read so I cut
the most expensive (NY Times) – I didn’t think I needed
as many as I had.
F, 61, USA
As with TV streaming subscriptions, we found widespread juggling
of trials and special offers to reduce outgoings. But for many the
jump from a trial to a full-price subscription was a critical time to
reflect on the value.
This year we wanted to explore more about those who do not
currently pay for online news across our 20 markets to see if there
was anything that could persuade them to do so. Encouragingly,
some said they might pay if the content was more distinctive (22%),
if there was an ad-free option (13%) or if the price was cheaper or
provided more flexibility (32%). On the other hand, many more
people (42%) said that nothing would persuade them to pay – as
many as 65% of current non-payers in the UK and 54% in Germany.
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2841850_0020.png
Graph 23
20
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
PROPORTION OF NON-SUBSCRIBERS THAT SAY EACH WOULD
MOST ENCOURAGE THEM TO PAY – AVERAGE OF SELECTED
COUNTRIES
Especially older and
less interested
groups
Economic downturn and the role of the media
The current economic crisis, which has brought rampant inflation,
job insecurity, and rising levels of poverty, has affected the vast
majority. Across markets, three-quarters (77%) of people say
they have been affected a great deal or somewhat by the cost-of-
living crisis, with only a fifth (20%) saying they have been largely
unaffected. Our data show that over half (52%) turn to mainstream
media or specialist sources for information about personal finances
and/or the economy, with social media personalities and creators
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
(12%) playing a relatively minor role. This reinforces previous data
showing that traditional media play a more important role when
times get tough.
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY PAY A LOT OF ATTENTION TO
EACH FOR NEWS ABOUT PERSONAL FINANCES AND/OR THE
WIDER ECONOMY (BY AGE) – AVERAGE OF SELECTED MARKETS
All
Mainstream media
Specialist business or nancial
news websites/magazines
Experts with an independent
public pro le
Social media personalities
and creators
Family and friends
12
20
35
39
23
23
22
25
Young more
likely to consult
family and friends,
independent experts,
and social media
influencers
More valuable
content
22%
13%
Ad-free
32%
Especially
younger and more
interested groups
Cheaper/
Flexible
42%
65%
UK
54%
Germany
49%
USA
Nothing
Especially
younger and more
interested groups
Graph 25
Q4_Pay_2023.
You say you don’t currently subscribe or donate to an online newspaper or other
news service. Which of the following, if any, would most encourage you to pay? Please select all
that apply.
Base: Those that don’t subscribe to online news in USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain,
Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria,
Poland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Canada = 33,460.
Overall, the biggest opportunity to attract new subscribers lies in
reducing the price, for example with special offer trials, or differential
pricing, but this also carries significant risks around long-term
profitability.
More flexibility is another theme that came out strongly in our
qualitative work as well as our survey. Many potential subscribers,
especially younger people, do not want to be ‘tied down’ by one
subscription. Instead, they want to access multiple brands with
little or no friction for a fair price.
Under-35s
40
33
52%
access
mainstream
or specialist
business media
47% of under-35s
I prefer to choose which services I want and not be
limited to a particular brand.
F, 55+, UK, lapsed subscriber
Graph 24
Schibsted in Norway now offers six national and local newspapers,
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
44 magazines, and exclusive podcasts in its all-access package, which
costs just a bit more than a single publication subscription. Amedia
15%
not paying
offers more than one hundred titles including local, premium sports
attention to any of these
19%
amongst those with low education
and podcasts in its +Alt subscription (below). It is
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM /
early days, but this
GRAPHS
bundle has been taken up by 4% of ongoing subscribers in Norway,
according to our latest data, and we see emerging examples in other
Q2_Finance_2023m.
Thinking about news or information related to your personal finances
and/or the wider economy ... which of the following sources, if any, do you pay a lot of attention
Nordic and Benelux markets.
to? Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample/U35s in all markets except Malaysia, Chile, Mexico,
South Africa, Kenya, Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru, and Thailand = 71,405/18,398.
All-access
subscriptions are
proving popular
The New York Times
is bundling games
with news
But as with other media topics we have explored in the past, we find
that younger groups are much more likely to rely on social media
and influencers compared with over-55s. They are less likely to pay
attention to mainstream media on finance topics. Family and friends
are also seen as a key source of information by young and old.
In some countries, personal finance experts who often run their
own websites or channels are building significant followings.
In the UK, for example, the founder of moneysavingexpert.com,
Martin Lewis, has become a household name – dispensing
practical advice on how to make money go further as well as
lobbying the government for policy changes. But it is important
to note that, as a result of his engaging personality, he has been
commissioned to present mainstream shows on television and
radio as well as his own podcasts and newsletters. The following
pictures highlight some of the other (mainly male) independent
experts who have built a personal following across channels
including social media.
Our detailed research this year across markets highlights how important
news subscriptions are to some, but also how fragile the arrangement is
for others. In countries such as the UK and US, many people subscribe
based on either a long-standing relationship, or the sense that the
outlet speaks
to
them and speaks
for
them. This brand identification
is closely linked to the content itself, raising questions about whether
paid models may encourage more partisan editorial approaches.
Beyond this, respondents need to believe they are getting value
for money, especially in the current economic climate. They also
need to be sure that the content is exclusive, curated, and that it
is unavailable for free. But they do not want to pay over the odds.
Larger, more expensive bundles appeal to those already interested
in news, but may be less attractive to many casual news users.
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2841850_0021.png
Graph 26
21
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report
SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
2023
Graph 27
PROPORTION THAT PAY ATTENTION TO INDEPENDENT
FINANCE EXPERTS THAT NAMED EACH – SELECTED COUNTRIES
PROFILE OF THOSE THAT FIND NEWS ABOUT FINANCE
AND THE ECONOMY DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND –
ALL MARKETS
Gender
30%
77%
Martin Lewis
in the UK
mention
find news about
finance
difficult
to understand
Net: Difficult
24%
Net: Difficult
35%
Dave Ramsey
in the US
mention
6%
Charles Gave
in France
mention
4%
Education
50%
Harder to understand for those
with lower levels of education
Income
50%
Finance_Open_2023.
You say that you pay a lot of attention to experts with an independent public
profile (e.g. their own social channels or TV shows) for news or information related to your personal
finances and the wider economy. Who do you pay attention to?
Base: All that say they pay attention to
experts in UK = 510, USA = 425, France = 349. Note: Open-ended question. Respondents could type in up to
three names.
25%
34
30
26
25
25%
33
31
24
Although people rely greatly on mainstream media for finance and
economic news, a significant proportion say they find it difficult
to understand. This is especially true for people who need the
information most. Overall, around a third (30%) found it difficult,
with those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis, women, and
those with lower income and education levels finding the news
more difficult both to understand and to apply in their daily lives.
0%
Low
Medium
High
Degree
0%
Low
Medium
High
Q3_Finance_2023_1.
How easy or difficult do you find it to understand news about finance and
the economy?
Education.
What is your highest level of education?
Income.
What is your gross
household income?
Base: Total sample = 67,344, Men/Women = 32,711/34,633, Low/Medium/High
education = 12,671/29,722/24,951, Low/Medium/High household income = 15,343/26,649/16,470 in all
markets except Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Kenya, Philippines, Colombia,
Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru, and Thailand.
Graph 28
Self-declared interest in news is lower amongst women and
younger people, with the falls often greatest in countries
characterised by high levels of political polarisation. Some
Unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, neither the cost-of-living crisis nor
markets, with stable, well-funded media and high trust in
the ongoing Ukraine war has led to a sustained upsurge of news
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
institutions, such as Finland and the Netherlands, seem to have
consumption. Across a large group of countries, our survey data show
largely bucked the trend, while previously stable markets such
a decline in weekly consumption across different news sources over
as Austria and Germany are starting to be affected.
the last year and lower interest in the news overall (see chart below).
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY ARE VERY OR EXTREMELY INTERESTED IN NEWS (OVER TIME) – SELECTED COUNTRIES
INTEREST IN NEWS CONTINUES TO DECLINE,
FUELLING DISENGAGEMENT AND SELECTIVE
NEWS AVOIDANCE
Countries with big declines
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
2017
-34pp
Argentina
77%
France
Argentina
Spain
France
85%
Spain
USA
US
UK
UK
59%
43%
36%
-34pp
67%
51%
49%
70%
43%
-23pp
-18pp
-27pp
2023 2015
2023 2015
2023 2015
2023 2015
2023
Countries with more stable levels
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
2015
Germany
74%
52%
Austria
Germany
South Korea
Austria
Netherlands
South Korea
Finland
Netherlands
64%
-22pp
-10pp
65%
+1pp
Finland
57%
54%
41%
38%
2016
-3pp
51%
-6pp
64%
2023 2015
2023
2023 2015
2023 2015
2023
Q1c.
How interested, if at all, would you say you are in news?
Base: Total sample in each country-year ≈ 2000. Finland in 2015 = 1509.
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2841850_0022.png
22
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Graph 30
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
These declines in news interest are reflected in lower consumption
of both traditional and online media sources in most cases. The
proportion that say they did not consume
any
news in the last
week from traditional or online sources (TV, radio, print, online,
or social media) has increased again this year across countries.
The highest proportion of ‘disconnected’ users can be found
in Japan (17%), the United States (12%), Germany and the UK
(9% each). But in countries like Finland (2%) a much smaller
proportion are disengaged.
Addressing selective news avoidance
PROPORTION OF NEWS AVOIDERS THAT SAY THEY DO EACH –
ALL MARKETS
Periodic avoidance
Specific avoidance
1. Avoiding most sources
2. Checking less often
3. Avoiding some topics
of avoiders
e.g. scrolling past news,
changing channels when
news comes on
53%
of avoiders
e.g. limit to certain times
of day, turning off
notifications, etc.
52%
of avoiders
e.g. topics that
bring down mood or
increase anxiety
32%
Graph 29
Last year’s report highlighted the problem of selective news
avoidance, especially with some hard-to-reach groups.
Avoidance_behaviours_2023.
You said that you try to actively avoid news. Which of the
following, if any, do you do? Please select all that apply.
Base: Those who sometimes or often avoid
Publishers have spoken openly about falling web traffic and
the news in all markets = 33,469.
the difficulty of engaging audiences with subjects such as the
war in Ukraine and climate change.
10
Our data provoked much
In our qualitative study this year we’ve heard more evidence about
debate about the precise nature of news avoidance and this year
the circumstances that give rise to this selective news avoidance,
we have explored this further, as well as looking at what can
even by those who are otherwise very interested. Certain news
be done to address it. In this year’s data we find continued high
stories that are repeated excessively or are felt to be ‘emotionally
levels of selective avoidance (people who say they actively
draining’ are often passed over in favour of something more uplifting.
do it sometimes or often), with the headline rate at 36%,
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
7 percentage points above the figure in 2017 but two points
I try to avoid stories relating to the UK economy currently
lower than last year. It was down in the UK and Brazil but up
as it is just depressing. I’m probably choosing to read
some other countries, such as Greece, Bulgaria, and Poland.
more light-hearted stories than I used to at the moment.
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY SOMETIMES OR OFTEN ACTIVELY
TRY TO AVOID THE NEWS (2017-2023) – ALL MARKETS
M, 51, UK
Turning my back on news is the only way I feel I can
cope sometimes. I have to consciously make the effort
to turn away for the sake of my own mental health.
F, 42, UK
Avoidance of the war in Ukraine is widespread
Amongst avoiders, almost four in ten (39%) said they had avoided
news on the war in Ukraine, followed by national politics (38%), issues
around social justice (31%), news about crime (30%), and celebrity
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
news (28%). Selective avoidance of Ukraine news was highest in
many of the countries closest to the conflict, reinforcing findings
from our additional survey last year, soon after the war had begun.
11
PROPORTION OF NEWS AVOIDERS THAT SAY THEY AVOID
NEWS ABOUT THE WAR IN UKRAINE – SELECTED MARKETS
Finland
Czech Rep.
60
52
50
48
47
40
37
35
35
32
25%
50%
75%
100%
Countries farther from the conflict
Avoidance_topics_2023.
You said that you try to actively avoid specific news topics. Which of the
following news topics are you trying to avoid? Please select all that apply.
Base: Those who sometimes or
often avoid news and avoid specific news topics in UK = 260, USA = 231, Germany = 210, Finland = 203, Poland
= 320, Czech Republic = 243, Hungary = 228, Romania = 226, Slovakia = 226, Bulgaria = 360, Turkey = 292.
50%
38
36
25%
29
32
39%
2019
2022
2023
33%
0%
2017
More likely to be women than men
Lowest levels
Highest levels
Greece
Bulgaria
Argentina
Poland
UK
57%
(+6)
57%
(+10)
46%
44%
(+3)
41%
(-5)
Finland
South Korea
Denmark
Taiwan
Japan
21%
20%
(-6)
19%
17%
(-5)
11%
(-3)
Graph 31
75
Q1di_2017.
Do you find yourself actively trying to avoid news these days?
Base: Total sample in each
country-year ≈ 2000, Men/Women in 2023 = 45,938/47,957. Note: Number of markets grew from 36 in 2018
to 46 from 2021 onwards. Markets listed in online methodology.
Germany
Slovakia
Bulgaria
Hungary
UK
Romania
Poland
Turkey
USA
0%
This year, for the first time, we asked about the
different ways
that
people avoid the news and found that around half of avoiders
(53%) were trying to do so in a
broad-brush
or
periodic
way – for
example, by turning off the radio when the news came on, or by
scrolling past the news in social media. This group includes many
younger people and those with lower levels of education.
A second group tends to avoid news by taking more
specific actions.
This may involve checking the news less often (52% of avoiders),
for example by turning off mobile notifications, or not checking the
news last thing at night, or by avoiding certain news topics (32% of
avoiders) such as the war in Ukraine or news about national politics.
39%
average
across all markets
10
11
72% of industry executives said they were worried or very worried about avoidance in
Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2023
(Newman 2023).
https:/
/reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022/perceptions-media-coverage-war-Ukraine
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2841850_0023.png
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
23
Graph 32
Our data may not suggest a lack of interest in Ukraine from
For some people, bitter and divisive political debates are a reason to
nearby countries but rather a desire to manage time or protect
turn off news altogether, but for some political partisans, avoidance
mental health from the very real horrors of war. It may also be
is often about blocking out perspectives you don’t want to hear.
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
that consumers in these countries already consider themselves
When splitting topic-based avoidance by political orientation, we find
to be well-enough informed on Ukraine, with extensive and
those on the right in the United States are five times more likely to
detailed coverage across all channels, including via social media.
actively
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
REUTERS
avoid news about climate change than those on the left and
GRAPHS
three times more likely to avoid news about social justice issues such
as gender and race. Those on the left are more likely than those on
DIFFICULT IMAGES FROM UKRAINE ARE TURNING SOME AWAY
the right to avoid news about crime or business and finance.
FROM NEWS
Graph 34
PROPORTION OF NEWS AVOIDERS THAT SAY THEY AVOID
NEWS ABOUT EACH TOPIC – USA
Left
Social justice news
Climate change and
environmental news
Health news
Culture news
Science and technology news
4%
Destruction of Mariupol in the first few months of the war.
Right
70%
64%
36%
28%
22%
12%
14%
12%
8%
29%
23%
27%
39%
39%
10%
10%
33%
9%
7%
14%
9%
5%
0%
12%
14%
30%
25%
18%
25%
50%
35%
44%
39%
36%
War in Ukraine news
Lifestyle news
Bitter political debates are another key factor driving avoidance
Comparing Finland with a politically polarised country such as the
United States (see next chart) that is less affected by the war, we
find a very different pattern of topic avoidance. In the United States,
we find that consumers are more likely to avoid subjects such as
national politics and social justice, where debates over issues such as
gender, sexuality, and race have become highly politicised. By contrast,
there is very little active avoidance of local news in either country.
Sports news
Entertainment and
celebrity news
Other international news
National politics news
Education news
Local news
Crime and personal
security news
Business, financial,
and economic news
Fun news
Graph 33
American politics are pretty toxic these days. I find
sometimes that I have to disconnect from stories that
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
just make me angry.
F, 61, United States
75%
PROPORTION OF NEWS AVOIDERS THAT SAY THEY AVOID
NEWS ABOUT EACH TOPIC – USA AND FINLAND
National politics
Social justice news
War in Ukraine
Climate change
and environment
Entertainment
/celebrity
Health
Local news
4
9
25%
50%
75%
100%
19
25
34
23
28
32
30
30
40
43
41
USA
Finland
Avoidance_topics_2023. You said that you try to actively avoid specific news topics. Which of the
following news topics are you trying to avoid? Please select all that apply.
Base: Those who sometimes
or often avoid news and avoid specific news topics on the Left = 103, Right = 76. Note: Differences of less than
+/-10pp should be treated with caution due to small base sizes.
Finland
United States
Addressing news avoidance
75
Evidence that some people are turning away from important news
subjects, like the war in Ukraine, national politics, and even climate
change is extremely challenging for the news industry and for
those who believe the news media have a critical role in informing
the public as part of a healthy democracy.
Many news organisations are looking to tackle both periodic and
specific avoidance in a variety of ways. Some are looking to make
news more accessible for hard-to-reach groups, broadening the
news agenda, commissioning more inspiring or positive news, or
embracing constructive or solutions journalism that give people a
sense of hope or personal agency. In our survey this year, we asked
respondents about their interest in these different approaches.
0%
Avoidance_topics_2023.
You said that you try to actively avoid specific news topics. Which of
the following news topics are you trying to avoid? Please select all that apply.
Base: Those who
sometimes or often avoid news and avoid specific news topics in USA = 231, Finland = 203.
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2841850_0024.png
24
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Graph 36
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Graph 35
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
At a headline level, we find that avoiders are much less interested in
the latest twists and turns of the big news stories of the day (35%),
compared with those that never avoid (62%). This explains why
stories like Ukraine or national politics perform well with news
regulars but can at the same time turn less interested users away.
Selective avoiders are less interested in all types of news than non-
avoiders but in relative terms they do seem to be more interested
in positive or solutions-based news. Having said that, it is not clear
that audiences think much about publisher definitions of terms such
as positive or solutions journalism. Rather we can interpret this as
an oft-stated desire for the news to be a bit less depressing and a bit
easier to understand.
PROPORTION THAT TRUST MOST NEWS MOST OF THE TIME –
ALL MARKETS
Northern
Europe
Finland
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Ireland
UK
Netherlands
Belgium
Germany
Switzerland
Austria
France
Portugal
Turkey
Croatia
Italy
Spain
Greece
57
53
-3pp
50
47
-5pp
69
33
Western
Europe
Generally, I want a lighter tone. It’s good for my soul
and makes me less anxious.
M, 55, Germany
30
57
44
-7pp
43
-7pp
42
-4pp
38
-3pp
58
-3pp
Southern
Europe
PROPORTION OF NEWS AVOIDERS THAT SAY THEY ARE
INTERESTED IN EACH TYPE OF NEWS – AVERAGE OF
SELECTED MARKETS
Positive
Solutions
Explainers
News about
people like me
Investigative
Big stories of the day
0%
39
38
37
35
25%
50%
75%
100%
46
55
35
34
-4pp
34
33
19
-8pp
32
30
-4pp
28
-7pp
27
25
42
Eastern
Poland
Europe
Romania
Proportion of avoiders interested
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Hungary
Kenya
South Africa
Nigeria
Thailand
Singapore
Australia
Japan
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Indonesia
India
Philippines
South Korea
Taiwan
Brazil
Mexico
Chile
Colombia
Peru
Argentina
Canada
USA
0%
of non-avoiders are
interested in this
type of news
62%
Africa
63
+6pp
57
-4pp
57
45
43
42
40
+4pp
39
39
38
-3pp
38
51
Asia-Pacific
News_interest_2023.
How interested are you, if at all, in the following types of news?
Base: Those
who sometimes or often avoid the news in all markets except Turkey, Malaysia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico,
South Africa, Kenya, Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Peru, and Thailand = 22,467.
There are no simple solutions to what is a multifaceted story of
disconnection and low engagement in a high-choice digital
environment, but our data suggest that less sensationalist, less
negative, and more explanatory approaches might help,
especially with those who have low interest in news. Of course,
what people
say
doesn’t always match what they
do,
and other
research reminds us that in practice we are often drawn towards
more negative and emotionally triggering news (Robertson et al.
2023). This may be true in the moment, but over time it seems to
be leaving many people empty and less satisfied, which may be
undermining our connection with and trust in the news.
Trust in the news continues on a downward path with notable
exceptions
Across markets, overall trust in news (40%) and trust in the sources
people use themselves (46%) are down by a further 2 percentage
points this year. As in previous years, we find the highest trust levels
in countries such as Finland (69%) and Portugal (58%), with lower
trust levels in countries with higher degrees of political polarisation
such as the United States (32%), Argentina (30%), Hungary (25%),
and Greece (19%).
However, the United States has seen a 6pp increase in news trust in
the last year as politics has become a bit less divisive under Joe Biden’s
presidency. Meanwhile, trust in Greece is now the lowest in our survey
amid heated discussions about press freedom and a wiretapping
scandal involving prominent politicians, businessmen, and journalists.
28
28
Latin
America
36
35
35
33
-8pp
30
-5pp
43
-5pp
North
America
40
32
+6pp
25%
50%
75%
100%
Q6_2016_1.
Thinking about news in general, do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
– I think you can trust most news most of the time.
Base: Total sample in each market (n ≈ 2000).
Germany has also seen a significant fall in trust in the news (-7pp) in
the wake of a new government, concerns about energy security, and
the war in Ukraine, though a closer examination shows the number
essentially returning to pre-COVID-19 levels. Indeed, through the
rear-view mirror, the COVID-19 trust bump is clearly visible in the
following chart, though the direction of travel afterwards has been
mixed. In some cases (e.g. Finland), the trust increase has been
maintained, while in others the upturn looks more like a blip in a
story of continued long-term decline. As always, it is important to
underline that our data are based on people’s perceptions of how
trustworthy the media, or individual news brands, are. These scores
are aggregates of subjective opinions, not an objective measure of
underlying trustworthiness, and changes are often at least as much
about political and social factors as narrowly about the news itself.
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2841850_0025.png
Graph 37
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
25
PROPORTION THAT TRUSTS MOST NEWS MOST OF THE TIME
(2015–2023) – SELECTED COUNTRIES
USA
75%
UK
Germany
France
Finland
68%
60%
51%
38%
32%
General election
69%
50%
On average, politicians are most often cited by respondents for
their criticisms of the media, followed by ordinary people. This is
particularly the case in the United States (58%), where some leading
politicians regularly deploy phrases like ‘fake news media’ to deflect
accountability reporting and mobilise loyalists. Commentators on
Finland
politically polarised cable TV outlets also routinely attack other news
France
organisations with media-critical segments.
Germany
43%
33%
32%
30%
25%
Trump elected
0%
COVID-19
trust bump
Politicians and activists are seen as a main source of media criticism
UK
in the Philippines (46%), where journalists critical of the government
are routinely branded communists or terrorists. In Mexico, President
US
López Obrador, known as AMLO, carries a section in his morning
news conferences where he routinely exposes so-called ‘fake stories’
JOURNALISM
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF
published by the mainstream press.
For further information see Section 3, relevant country pages:
Philippines, Mexico
In terms of where people
see or hear media criticism,
we find social media (49%)
cited most often, followed
by chats with people offline
(36%) and then other media
outlets (35%) such as
television and radio.
Attacks on journalists are on the rise in the Philippines.
The bad-mouthing of
journalists is not new,
but attacks can now be
amplified more quickly than ever before through a variety of digital
and social channels in ways that are often closely co-ordinated,
sometimes paid for, and lacking in transparency. Media criticism
has become a key part of the political playbook, a way to deflect
criticism and intimidate investigations – and these tactics often
land on fertile ground.
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Graph 39
Q6_2016_1.
Thinking about news in general, do you agree or disagree with the following
statements? – I think you can trust most news most of the time.
Base: Total sample in each
country-year ≈ 2000. Finland in 2015 = 1509.
Media criticism and its impact on trust
Graph 38
One potential contributing factor to low trust has been widespread
and forthright criticism of the news media from a range of different
sources. Digital and social media have provided much-needed
accountability for news media, with articles and commentaries
scrutinised for accuracy, hypocrisy, and bias. But other criticisms
are less fair, coloured by political agendas and often forthrightly
expressed by activists or special interest groups. Political polarisation
hasn’t helped, and many of our country pages (Section 3) carry
examples of verbal abuse, co-ordinated harassment of individual
journalists and independent media, and, in some cases, physical
attacks against journalists. Looking across our entire dataset, we
find a correlation between low trust and media criticism. Some of
the highest reported levels of media criticism are found in countries
with highest levels of
THE STUDY OF
as Greece, the Philippines, the
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
distrust, such
JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The lowest levels
For further analysis see Section 2.3: Sources and Drivers of News
of media criticism are often in those with higher levels of trust, such
Media Criticism
as Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Japan.
CORRELATION BETWEEN EXPOSURE TO NEWS MEDIA CRITICISM AND DISTRUST IN NEWS – ALL MARKETS
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0%
Proportion ‘very' or ‘quite o en'
exposed to criticism
r
2
= 0.41
Peru
Philippines
France
Finland
UK
Greece
USA
Denmark
Norway
Austria
Higher proportions of people
say they distrust the news
media in markets where
there is a higher proportion
of people exposed to news
media criticism
Japan
Proportion who
distrust news in general
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Q1_Criticism_2023.
How often, if at all, do you see or hear people criticising journalists or the news media in <market>?
Q6_2016_1.
Thinking about news in general, do you agree or disagree with the
following statements? – I think you can trust most news most of the time.
Base: Total sample in each market ≈ 2000.
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2841850_0026.png
26
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Public service news media under pressure
In recent years, public service media (PSM) have been one of the
objects of media criticism, often from politicians, activists, and
alternative media on the right, but also from commercial media who
feel they provide unfair competition in the digital world. Increasingly
polarised debates have made it harder to deliver news services that
are seen to be impartial by all parts of society, while falling reach for
traditional broadcast services has increased pressure on funding
models whose justification is the provision of universal services.
In the last year, Austria’s public broadcaster, ORF, has been ordered
to cut over €300m by 2026 as the government looks set to change
its funding model. In the UK, the BBC has merged its global and
national 24-hour news channels after a licence fee freeze and has
faced a new crisis over impartiality. A corruption scandal in Germany
has undermined confidence in public media there, and the Swiss
public broadcaster, SRG SSR, is due to face a new referendum which
will propose major funding reductions. Against this background, we
wanted to get a sense of how important audiences still feel public
media news is for them and for society. We have focused on around 20
public media organisations in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific that
are generally seen as being relatively independent of government.
Graph 41
Our research suggests that the experience of using public service
media is a powerful driver of how important people think they are.
Independent public media are still often the first port of call for all
age groups when looking for reliable news around stories such as
the Ukraine conflict or COVID-19 but in almost all cases online
reach is still much lower than that achieved through television and
radio. In Germany and the UK, younger audiences are less likely
than older ones to use public broadcasters and this is reflected in
our scores around importance. In Germany, over-55s find news
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
from public service media (ARD and ZDF) much more important
than all other age groups. In the UK, this sense of importance is a
bit more evenly spread across age groups.
PROPORTION THAT SAY PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA ARE
IMPORTANT – UK AND GERMANY
18–24
25–34
35–44
45–54
55+
UK
75%
50%
36
42
45
BBC News:
66% used in last week, trusted by 61%
46
51
46
52
54
52
56
Graph 40
In almost every country covered, more people say public service media
25%
are important than unimportant. It is little surprise that the perceived
importance is highest in Nordic countries, small territories with a
0%
unique language and culture to protect, and public service media that
many observers regard as among the best at delivering on their remit
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
in a changing media environment. Public news broadcasters are seen
as less important in Southern Europe, though their importance to
75%
society is rated a few points higher in every country.
50%
Important to me
Important to society
Germany
ARD News:
49% used in last week, trusted by 62%
ZDF Heute:
39% used in last week, trusted by 60%
62
65
41
43
42
45
PROPORTION THAT SAY PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA ARE
IMPORTANT TO THEM PERSONALLY – SELECTED COUNTRIES
Finland
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Portugal
South Korea
Netherlands
Belgium
Switzerland
Australia
Ireland
Germany
Italy
UK
Austria
Canada
France
Spain
Japan
0%
Important
Not important
25%
38
37
37
37
71
68
65
64
59
57
56
55
53
52
48
47
46
46
45
41
40
40
31
25%
50%
Don’t know
17
19
20
18
24
28
28
27
26
27
11 1
9 4
12 3
14 4
14 3
14 1
12 4
14 4
17 4
18 3
23 2
25 4
18 5
26 5
29 2
0%
Don’t know
Important to me
Important to society
Q1_PSM_2023g_1/2.
‘How important, or not, are publicly funded news services such as <brand>
to you personally/to society?
Base: 18–24s/25–34s/35–44s/45–54s/55+ in UK = 198/251/327/334/997
and Germany = 184/305/301/375/847.
Not Important
27
24
31
23
24
30
34
33
35
75%
We find similar gaps elsewhere, with a weaker sense of importance
Neither important nor unimportant
among those with lower levels of education, despite an explicit
remit around providing for underserved audiences. Those who
self-identify on the political right are also, in most cases, much less
inclined to rate public media important compared with those on
Important
the left – making it easier for opponents to make the case that
these organisations are part of a ‘liberal elite’.
Further detailed analysis, where we also control for usage, suggests
that education and political orientation remain significant predictors
of people’s perception of public service media news, but this is not
the case with age. These findings suggest that lower perceived
importance of public service media among younger people is related
more to the fact that many younger people have grown up preferring
digital and social media, and have little or no experience of using
these services. This underlines how important it is for their long-term
legitimacy that public service media find better ways to reach young
people with relevant content and formats.
For further analysis see Section 2.4: The Importance of Public Service
Media for Individuals and for Society
22
7
22 4
25 2
31 3
100%
Neither important nor unimportant
Q1_PSM_2023g_1.
‘How important, or not, are publicly funded news services such as
<brand> to you personally?
Base: Total sample in each country ≈ 2000.
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2841850_0027.png
Graph 43
The growing importance of multimedia formats in online news
This year we asked respondents about their preferences for text,
audio and video when consuming news online. On average, we
find that the majority still prefer to read the news (57%), rather
than watch (30%) or listen to it (13%), but younger people
(under-35s) are more likely to listen (17%) than older groups.
In the past, young and old have told us that they find reading
the quickest and easiest way to access information, but the
opportunity to multitask by listening to news seems to be
particularly appealing to those brought up with smartphones
and headphones.
Behind the averages we find significant and surprising country
differences. In markets with a strong reading tradition, such as
Finland and the United Kingdom, around eight in ten still prefer to
read online news, but in India and Thailand, around four in ten
(40%) say they prefer to watch news online, and in the Philippines
that proportion is over half (52%). It is worth bearing in mind that
less representative samples in these countries may be a factor in
these differences.
Reuters Institute for
THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
2023
27
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report
SUMMARY GRAPHS
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY PREFER TO CONSUME NEWS
IN EACH WAY (BY AGE) – UK
18–24
25–34
35–44
45–54
55+
100%
Less likely
to
read
75%
63
50%
82 80 81
71
More likely
to
watch
Much more likely to
prefer to
listen
than
older groups
25%
18 16
0%
13 14 14
19
13
4
Prefer to read
Prefer to watch
6
5
Prefer to listen
Graph 42
In many Asian countries, populations tend to be younger, mobile
data tend to be relatively cheap, and video news is widely
available via platforms such as
OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY
YouTube and TikTok. In Thailand,
Video consumption has been growing across markets
for example, greater opportunities for freedom of expression
online have led to the creation of a spate of independent TV-style
Overall, we find that weekly consumption maps strongly onto
online shows that are widely consumed on mobile phones.
these underlying preferences. In Kenya (97%), the Philippines
PROPORTION THAT SAY THEY PREFER TO CONSUME NEWS
ONLINE IN EACH WAY – SELECTED COUNTRIES
Prefer to read
Prefer to watch
Prefer to listen
OPTQ11D_2020.
In thinking about your online habits around news and current affairs, which of
the following statements applies best to you? Please select one.
Base: 18–24s = 198, 25–34s = 251,
35–44s = 327, 45–54s = 334, 55+ = 997. Note: Don’t know responses excluded.
Graph 44
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
(94%), and Thailand (91%), for example, respondents are twice
as likely to consume news video weekly as those in the UK (46%)
or Germany (45%).
CORRELATION BETWEEN WATCHING ONLINE NEWS VIDEO AND
PREFERENCE FOR WATCHING NEWS ONLINE – ALL MARKETS
6
12
82
100%
13
30
75%
57
of U35s
prefer to
listen
17%
12
52
22
40
21
40
10
23
67
7
15
78
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Consume video
news in last week
Nigeria
Malaysia
Indonesia
Brazil
Kenya
Philippines
Peru
Czech Republic
Finland
USA
Australia
Japan
UK
France
Denmark
Taiwan
50%
25%
36
38
39
50%
40%
0%
All
Philippines Thailand
India
Germany
UK
Finland
30%
20%
10%
r
2
= 0.56
OPTQ11D_2020.
In thinking about your online habits around news and current affairs, which of
the following statements applies best to you? Please select one.
Base: Total sample in each country
≈ 2000. Note: Don’t know responses excluded.
0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Prefer to watch
news online
50%
But even in countries with strong reading preferences, we find
different patterns with younger generations. In the UK, a majority
of 18–24s still prefer text, but they are much less likely to want to
read online news compared with older groups, and have a stronger
preference to watch as well as listen, suggesting future online news
habits may look very different in the next decade.
Q11_VIDEO_2018a.
Thinking about when you used online news-related video (a short clip, a live
stream, or a full episode) over the last week, which of the following did you do?
OPTQ11D.
In thinking
about your online habits around news and current affairs, which of the following statements applies
best to you?
Base: Total sample in each market ≈ 2000.
Across all markets, almost two-thirds (62%) consumed video via
social media in the previous week and just 28% when browsing
a news website or app. Facebook and YouTube remain the biggest
outlets for online video, but with under-35s TikTok is now not
far behind (see chart overleaf).
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2841850_0028.png
Graph 45
28
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
PROPORTION THAT WATCHED ONLINE NEWS VIDEO ON EACH
IN THE LAST WEEK – ALL MARKETS
18–24
25–34
35+
31
39
Facebook
33
37
35
YouTube
24
Instagram
12
27
19
TikTok
10
21
17
Twitter
8
7
Twitch
3
23
News
website
16
None of
the above
0%
19
32
25%
26
29
10
30
30
Podcast reach remains stable with a loyal audience
Audio news consumption has been growing in recent years driven by
changing underlying audience preferences, higher quality content,
and better monetisation. Publishers have been investing in podcasts
because they are
35+
relatively low cost, help build loyal relationships,
and are good at attracting younger audiences. Public broadcasters
and leading newspaper publishers such as the New York Times and
Schibsted in the Nordic region have invested in original shows – as
25–34
well as building their own platforms for distribution. Overall, our data
show that around a third (34%) access a podcast monthly across a
basket of 20 countries where the term podcast is well understood.
Around a third of these (12%) access a news podcast regularly, with
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
18–24
the strongest growth in the United States and Australia. Just under
a third (29%) say they have spent more time listening to podcasts
this year, with 19% saying they have listened less.
PROFILE OF PODCAST LISTENERS – AVERAGE OF SELECTED
MARKETS
Top news podcasting
USA
Sweden
19% (+4) ↑
17%
14%
14%
14%
0%
18–24
25–34
35–44
45–54
consume via
one or more social
platforms
62%
Graph 47
34%
75%
50%
25%
access a podcast monthly
Younger age profile
56
53
41
30
19
55+
28%
via news
websites
or apps
Australia
Ireland
Spain
consumed
no video
28%
50%
Q11_VIDEO_2018a.
Thinking about when you used online news-related video (a short clip, a live
stream, or a full episode) over the last week, which of the following did you do? Please select all
that apply.
Base: 18–24s = 11,192, 25–34s = 16,918, 35+ = 65,785.
Q11F_2018. A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files, which you can download, subscribe,
or listen to. Which of the following types of podcast have you listened to in the last month? Please
select all that apply.
Base: Total sample = 40,902, 18-24/25-34/35-44/45-54/55+ = 3914/6449/6883/
6845/16,811 in UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Denmark,
Australia, Singapore, Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Ireland.
Graph 46
News makes up a relatively small proportion of podcasts in most
Younger groups consume disproportionately more news video
markets, but plays a bigger role in the United States (19%). By
via social networks, but are less likely to access video via news
contrast, only around 8% listen to news podcasts monthly in the
websites or apps. The next chart illustrates how 18–24s have leaned
UK.
into social media consumption in the last few years, a period that
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
This year, we asked respondents in 12 countries to tell us
which
news podcasts they listened to, using an open survey field, and this
has coincided with the rise of short TikTok videos, Instagram Reels,
has enabled us to build a good picture of the different types as well
and YouTube Shorts.
as their relative popularity.
PROPORTION OF 18–24S THAT WATCHED ONLINE NEWS VIDEO
VIA SOCIAL/NEWS WEBSITES IN THE LAST WEEK (2018–2023) –
ALL MARKETS
Video via news websites
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
Video via social media
79%
66%
Gap is another
sign of weakening
connection with
news websites
In the United States, we find the
New York Times
explanatory podcast
The Daily to be the most widely listened-to show, and the format
has been widely copied around the world. The Danish equivalent,
Genstart, was mentioned by 24% of news podcast listeners there,
with public broadcaster DR accounting for over half of all named
podcasts – and it is a similar story in Norway. In other countries,
Video via social media
however, there are no clear winners, with a large number of podcasts
Video via news websites
each attracting a relatively small audience.
Extended talk formats such as The Joe Rogan Experience, which is
exclusive to Spotify, are also popular with news podcast users across
the world, even though shows can last up to several hours. In the UK,
the BBC’s Newscast faces stiff competition from Global Radio’s The
News Agents and political talk show The Rest Is Politics. The production
of podcasts is also becoming more complex, we find, with many shows
now filmed to enable wider distribution via video platforms such
as YouTube, as well as more impactful promotion via social media.
For further analysis see Section 2.5: News Podcasts: Who is Listening,
and What Formats are Working?
31%
23%
2018
2019
2020
2021
2023
Q11_VIDEO_2018a.
Thinking about when you used online news-related video (a short clip, a live
stream, or a full episode) over the last week, which of the following did you do? Please select all
that apply. Base: 18–24s in each market-year ≈ 200. Note: Question not asked in 2022. TikTok and
Twitch response options added in 2023.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
29
CONCLUSIONS
While some individual news brands have been very successful
at building online reach or even convincing people to subscribe,
this year’s data show how fragile these advances are in the face of
economic and political uncertainty, fragmenting audiences, and a
new wave of platform disruption. Even as a few winners are doing
well in a challenging environment, many publishers are struggling
to convince people that their news is worth paying attention to, let
alone paying for.
In the short term, growth is severely challenged by the combined
impact of rising costs and falling revenues, as well as increasingly
unpredictable traffic from legacy social networks like Facebook and
Twitter. In the longer term, our data suggest that significant shifts
in audience behaviour, driven by younger demographics, are likely
to kick in, including a preference for more accessible, informal, and
entertaining news formats, often delivered by influencers rather
than journalists, and consumed
within
platforms like YouTube,
Instagram, and TikTok. Visual and audio formats won’t replace
text online, but they are set to become a more important part of
the mix over the next decade. But across formats, we still see the
convenience and aggregating power of platforms trumping direct
access, even if some smaller countries with strong publishers and
high levels of trust have been able to buck these trends.
With an abundance of channels and options now available to
consumers, it’s perhaps not surprising that we find that news
consumers are increasingly overwhelmed and confused, with
many turning away temporarily or permanently. Selective news
avoidance and news fatigue has been exacerbated by the tough
times that we are living through. The ‘public connection’ between
journalism and much of the audience continues to fray.
In this context is clear than most consumers are looking not
for
more
news, but news that feels
more relevant,
and helps
them
make sense
of the complex issues facing us all. New
technological disruption from Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just
around the corner, threatening to release a further wave of
personalised, but potentially unreliable content.
Against this background, it will be more important than ever for
journalism to stand out in terms of its accuracy, its utility, and
its humanity. We can see from our data this year that audiences
are ambivalent about algorithms but they are still not convinced
that journalists and news organisations can do any better in
curating or summarising the most important developments. The
challenge ahead is, more than ever, about restoring relevance and
trust through meeting the needs of specific audiences. Building
relationships and communities won’t be all about pushing people
to websites and apps, even though that remains important for
business models, but it will also mean reaching out through other
platforms and channels with trusted information that provides
real value to consumers – in return for attribution and hopefully
financial return.
The war in Ukraine and the consequent economic shocks have
encouraged publishers to further accelerate their transition
to digital, embracing new business models, different types of
storytelling, and new forms of distribution too. There will be many
different paths but innovation, flexibility, and a relentless audience
focus will be some of the key ingredients for success.
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30
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
SECTION 2
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
31
SECTION 2
Further Analysis and
International Comparison
Richard Fletcher
Director of Research
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Kirsten Eddy
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Craig T. Robertson
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Director
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Nic Newman
Senior Research Associate
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
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32
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
2.1 Attitudes to Algorithms
and their Impact on News
Richard Fletcher
The vast majority of those aged under 35 now say
that using social media, search engines, or news
aggregators is their main way of getting news online.
Even though the use of social media as a source
of news has seen little growth in recent years, the
centrality of social media, search engines, news
aggregators, and other platforms that use algorithms
to select news continues to grow as direct access
to news websites and apps increasingly becomes
confined to older and more interested consumers.
The rapid growth of these ‘distributed’ platforms in the first part of
the twenty-first century was initially accompanied by excitement
and enthusiasm, but over time this transformed into concerns
about possible negative effects – first expressed in the speculative
notion of ‘echo chambers’, some years later, ‘filter bubbles’, and
more recently, the spread of misinformation. There has been
extensive research into whether algorithmically driven platforms
really do overexpose people to like-minded views, while filtering
out information they are likely to disagree with, creating feedback
loops that ultimately reshape their worldview. At least when it
comes to news exposure in recent years, this does not appear to
be happening (Ross Arguedas et al. 2022). For now, platform use
appears to increase the diversity of people’s news repertoires – but
platforms change, the debate continues, and the overall effect on
people’s attitudes and beliefs is less well understood.
We also know little about people’s attitudes and beliefs about
algorithmic news selection itself. But these matter because
many of the worst fears about echo chambers and filter bubbles
are predicated on a view of audiences as passive, credulous, and
unreflective recipients of information.
Surveys can help us see whether these assumptions are correct. In
this chapter we use data from the
Digital News Report
to explore how
people feel about news selected by algorithms, while comparing it
with selection by editors and journalists. We also look at what drives
people’s views on news selection, how it varies by country, and how it
has changed over time.
12
PEOPLE ARE SCEPTICAL ABOUT ALGORITHMIC
NEWS SELECTION
To measure people’s attitudes towards algorithmic news
selection we asked respondents whether they agree that ‘having
stories automatically selected for me on the basis of “what I
have consumed in the past” or “what my friends have
consumed” is a good way to get news?’. To help interpret the
results, we also asked respondents a similarly worded question
about news selected by ‘editors and journalists’.
12
The headline results reveal that audiences are quite sceptical
about all these ways of selecting news. Just 19% across all countries
where we asked these questions
13
agree that having stories
automatically selected for them on the basis of what their friends
have consumed is a good way to get news, with 42% disagreeing.
People have a more positive view of automatic selection based on
past consumption, but just three in ten (30%) agree it’s a good way
to get news – with equal numbers disagreeing.
Perhaps surprisingly, this is slightly more positive than people’s
views of news selection by editors and journalists (27%).
People are clearly quite sceptical of
all
forms of news selection,
whether done by humans or by algorithms – something we have
referred to in the past as ‘generalised scepticism’ (Fletcher and
Nielsen 2018). Part of the reason we refer to this scepticism as
‘generalised’ is because people’s views on all these methods of
news selection are fairly strongly correlated (r ≈ 0.5 for each
comparison), meaning that people tend to have a similar view
on all three. If someone thinks that editorial selection is a good
way to get news, they usually think the same about algorithmic
selection – and vice versa. Journalists, academics, and industry
observers, often with good reason, tend to see these selection
methods as being antithetical to one another – but it is
important to recognise that audiences do not think about
the issue in this way.
13
To help respondents understand the question, we included a preamble which read: ‘Every news website, mobile app or social network makes decisions about what content to show to you.
These decisions can be made by editors and journalists or by computer algorithms analysing information about what other content you have used, or on the basis of what you and your
friends share and interact with on social media.’
So that we could compare over time, we asked the questions on algorithmic selection in all countries included in the 2016
Digital News Report
(when we first fielded this battery of questions).
The countries are listed in the second figure in this chapter.
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0033.png
Graph 1
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
33
PROPORTION THAT AGREE THAT EACH IS A GOOD WAY TO GET
NEWS – AVERAGE OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
2016
50%
36
34
40
30
30
2023
PEOPLE’S SCEPTICISM HAS CHANGED LITTLE OVER
TIME
If we compare these results with those from the same questions in
2016, we can see that people’s views on the issue have not changed
very much in the last seven years – at least at the headline level.
Averaging the data across the same set of countries, we see there
has been a 6 percentage point fall in the proportion that think their
past consumption is a good basis for automated news selection,
and a smaller 3pp fall in approval of editorial selection and social
recommendations. It is important to note that the proportion who do
not think these are good ways to get news has remained stable, with
4–6pp increases in the middle ‘neither agree nor disagree’ category.
This suggests that approval has morphed into ambivalence – but
ultimately these are small changes, especially considering the
seven-year gap and everything that has happened in between.
As ever these averages mask variation at the country level. The chart
below shows that the UK, Denmark, and Hungary have the lowest
levels of approval for both types of algorithmic news selection,
whereas in Spain, South Korea, and Brazil approval is almost twice as
high. Although it’s not immediately clear from the chart below, there
are a small number of high-trust, newspaper-centric countries in
Northern and Western Europe – such as Austria (33%), Sweden
(30%), and the Netherlands (34%) – where the figures for editorial
selection, though still low, are slightly higher than those for both
types of algorithmic selection.
Having stories automatically
selected for me on the basis of
what I have consumed in the
past
is a good way to get news
25%
30
0%
Agree
Neither
Disagree
50%
35
22
19
Neither
Disagree
39
43
42
25%
Having stories automatically
selected for me on the basis of
what my friends have consumed
is a good way to get news
0%
Agree
50%
37
27
42
33
31
Having stories selected for
me by
editors and journalists
is a good way to get news
25%
30
0%
Agree
Neither
Disagree
Graph 2
The chart also shows how, in most countries, approval for all three
modes of selection has fallen since 2016. Australia is something of
an outlier as the only country where approval has risen across the
board. In some countries, such as Canada, Brazil, and the UK, the
changes from 2016 are relatively large – especially for news selected by
algorithms on the basis of past consumption. However, although the
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
downward trends are fairly consistent, in many cases the falls are of
3pp or less, and not statistically significant. And we should remember
again that in most cases approval has been replaced with ambivalence.
Q10D_2016a_1/2/3.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements. Having
stories selected for me by editors and journalists/automatically selected for me on the basis of what
I have consumed in the past/automatically selected for me on the basis of what my friends have
consumed is a good way to get news.
Base: Total samples in 2016 = 53,330, 2023 = 53,039. Note:
Questions asked in USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland,
Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Turkey,
Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Brazil.
PROPORTION THAT AGREE THAT EACH IS A GOOD WAY TO GET NEWS (2016–2023) – SELECTED COUNTRIES
Based on what I have consumed in the past
UK
Denmark
Hungary
Switzerland
France
Canada
Netherlands
Sweden
Germany
Greece
Belgium
Austria
Norway
USA
Ireland
Japan
Czech Rep.
Italy
Poland
Australia
Portugal
Spain
Finland
South Korea
Turkey
Brazil
2023
2016
20
21
23
24
24
26
27
27
27
27
28
29
29
29
30
30
30
31
35
35
36
36
36
37
40
46
25%
0%
50%
75%
2023
2016
8
UK
10
Denmark
11
Hungary
17
Switzerland
15
France
17
Canada
19
Netherlands
14
Sweden
18
Germany
16
Greece
Belgium
18
Austria
21
Norway
14
USA
16
Ireland
18
16
Japan
18
Czech Rep.
23
Italy
22
Poland
24
Australia
24
Portugal
20
Spain
16
Finland
27
South Korea
30
Turkey
34
Brazil
0%
25%
Based on what my friends have consumed
By editors and journalists
UK
Denmark
Hungary
Switzerland
France
Canada
Netherlands
Sweden
Germany
Greece
Belgium
Austria
Norway
USA
Ireland
Japan
Czech Rep.
Italy
Poland
Australia
Portugal
Spain
Finland
South Korea
Turkey
Brazil
2023
14
2016
23
17
34
30
29
18
27
33
25
22
25
20
19
30
29
29
38
30
26
29
30
0%
25%
28
24
20
50%
75%
47
50%
75%
Q10D_2016a_1/2/3.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements. Having stories selected for me by editors and journalists/automatically selected for me on the basis of
what I have consumed in the past/automatically selected for me on the basis of what my friends have consumed is a good way to get news.
Base: Total sample in each country-year ≈ 2000.
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34
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
INTEREST AND TRUST IN NEWS INCREASES
APPROVAL OF NEWS SELECTION METHODS
Returning to the data from 2023, we see that approval for each
method of news selection varies by interest in news. Those that say
they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ interested in news are considerably
more likely to agree that each is a good way of getting the news
– not just when it comes to editorial selection, but also for both
methods of algorithmic news selection. Approval for automatic
selection based on past behaviour and selection by editors and
journalists increases more with interest than automatic selection
based on friends’ consumption – but the increase is still clear.
Similarly, when we look at the results by different levels of trust
in news, we see that approval for both algorithmic news selection
and editorial news selection is significantly higher for those with
higher levels of trust – with around half of those who ‘strongly
agree’ that they can trust most news most of the time agreeing that
PROPORTION THAT AGREE THAT EACH IS A GOOD WAY TO
automatic selection based on past behaviour (52%) and selection
GET NEWS (BY MAIN WAY OF GETTING NEWS ONLINE) –
14
by editors and journalists (55%) are
JOURNALISM
to
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF
good ways
/
get the news.
AVERAGE OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
Again, the parallel increases in approval for all three methods of
Selected by editors and journalists
news selection suggest that people do not have diverging views on
Automatically selected based on past behaviour
algorithmic news selection versus editorial news selection.
Graph 4
We can also explore the link between different types of news
selection and what people say is their main way of getting news
online. Although we might expect large differences between
those who say their main way of getting news online is by going
direct to news websites and apps and those who say their main
way is to use a platform that relies on algorithmic selection (via
social media, a news aggregator, or using a search engine to
search for a news topic), in fact, the numbers and patterns stay
broadly the same. It is true that people who say their main way of
getting news online is via algorithmically driven platforms are a
little more likely to approve of news automatically selected based
on past behaviour (+7pp) and based on friends’ consumption
(+8pp) – but it is not the case that
JOURNALISM /
preference for
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF
people with a
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
direct access and people with a preference for platform access
have contrasting views on editorial and algorithmic
news selection.
Graph 3
Automatically selected based on friends’ consumption
PROPORTION THAT AGREE THAT EACH IS A GOOD WAY TO
GET NEWS (BY INTEREST AND TRUST IN NEWS) – AVERAGE
OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
Selected by editors and journalists
Automatically selected based on past behaviour
Automatically selected based on friends’ consumption
75%
75%
50%
25%
0%
27
28
14
Going direct to news websites/apps
28
35
22
Interest in news
(social media, news aggregator,
consumption
Automatically selected based on friends'
search engine)
Via algorithmically driven platforms
50%
42%
39%
28%
17%
14%
13%
Not at all
Not very
Somewhat
Very
Extremely
25%
Q10D_2016a_1/2/3.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements.
Having stories selected for me by editors and journalists/automatically selected for me on the
basis of what I have consumed in the past/automatically selected for me on the basis of what my
friends have consumed is a good way to get news.
Q10a_new2017_rc.
Which of these was the
main way in which you came across news in the last week?
Base: Those that say their main way of
getting news online was via algorithmically driven platform = 18,806, going direct to news websites/apps
= 13,251. Note: Questions asked in USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway,
Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic,
Poland, Greece, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Brazil.
Automatically selected based on past behaviour
Selected by editors and journalists
0%
PEOPLE WORRY ABOUT OVER-PERSONALISATION
We also used the survey to ask people how they feel about some
of the risks commonly associated with algorithmically selected
news – more specifically, the risk that more personalisation
Automatically selected based on friends' consumption
might mean they are not shown certain types of information.
Automatically selected based
questions, nearly half
Across all countries where we asked these
on past behaviour
agree that they ‘worry
editors and journalists
Selected by
that more personalised news may mean
that I miss out on important information’ (48%) and ‘challenging
viewpoints’ (46%). Figures for both are higher among those with
higher levels of interest and trust in the news, and at the country
level, concern about both is highest in the UK, USA, Australia,
and Norway.
The average figures are slightly down from 2016, where just over
half (57% and 55% respectively) say they ‘tend to agree’ or ‘strongly
agree’ with these statements. Although there was a slight increase in
the proportion that disagree (+3pp), the numbers for ‘neither agree
nor disagree’ increased by 6–7pp – again highlighting an increase
in ambivalence. Nonetheless, there is still considerable public
concern about the potential effects of over-personalisation, even as
algorithmically driven news access via search, social, and aggregators
becomes more important in many parts of the world.
75%
Trust in news
55%
52%
40%
50%
25%
20%
15%
13%
Strongly
disagree
Tend to
disagree
Neither
Tend to
agree
Strongly
agree
0%
Q10D_2016a_1/2/3.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements. Having
stories selected for me by editors and journalists/automatically selected for me on the basis of what
I have consumed in the past/automatically selected for me on the basis of what my friends have
consumed is a good way to get news.
Q1c.
How interested, if at all, would you say you are in news?
Q6_2016_1.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements. I think you can
trust most news most of the time.
Base: Not at all/Not very/Somewhat/Very/Extremely interested =
1,767/4,875/19,602/17,966/8,053, Strongly disagree/Tend to disagree/Neither/Tend to agree/Strongly agree
they trust most news most of the time = 4,724/10,364/16,047/18,932/2,972. Note: Questions asked in USA,
UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium,
Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Turkey, Japan, South Korea,
Australia, Canada, Brazil.
14
Other research, based on independent analysis of the 2016 data, found similar associations between interest and trust in news and each selection method, as well as negative associations
for education and age. Although the direction of the association did not vary by selection method, the strength of the association did vary for some variables (Thurman et al. 2019).
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Graph 5
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
35
PROPORTION THAT AGREE THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT EACH
(2016–2023) – AVERAGE OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
2016
75%
50%
57
2023
I worry that more
personalised news may
mean that I miss out on
important information
48
28
35
14
17
25%
0%
75%
50%
55
Agree
Neither
Disagree
Publishers should perhaps keep in mind that most people do not see
their selection processes as markedly different from those employed
by platforms. In most countries people think that the automatic
assessment of their past behaviour will deliver better results for
them than the considered judgement of editors and journalists.
This suggests that publishers have some work to do to convince
audiences of the value they add as experts in news selection, while
also pointing to the limits of simply asserting the value of that
expertise when trying to win back trust. Algorithmic news selection
is far from perfect, but editorial selection isn’t perfect either – and
people seem to know it.
I worry that more
personalised news may
mean that I miss out on
challenging viewpoints
46
31
25%
0%
37
14
17
Agree
Neither
Disagree
Q10D_2016b_1/2.
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements.
I worry that more personalised news may mean that I miss out on important information/
challenging viewpoints.
Base: Total samples in 2016 = 53,330, 2023 = 53,039. Note: Questions asked
in USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark,
Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Turkey, Japan,
South Korea, Australia, Canada, Brazil.
GENERALISED SCEPTICISM
People’s attitudes towards news selection – whether it’s done by
algorithms or by editors and journalists – can be characterised by
‘generalised scepticism’. People are clearly sceptical about whether
automatic news selection based on past behaviour or friends’
consumption is a good way to get news, and they worry about
missing out due to overpersonalisation – but they are equally wary
of how editors and journalists select news. Furthermore, people’s
views on algorithmic and editorial selection are often closely aligned.
If they are sceptical of one (and they often are), they are likely to
be sceptical of the other, too. Few people, for example, have a
positive view of editorial selection while holding a negative view of
algorithmic selection based on past behaviour.
These views have changed little since 2016 – though there’s some
evidence that people have become a little more ambivalent over
time. This may be because we are past the peak of concerns
about echo chambers and filter bubbles (even as concern over
misinformation is as high as ever), or it could be because most people
are now using more social networks – each using algorithmic news
selection in different ways – making it harder for people to have a
consistent positive or negative view.
We might take some comfort from the apparent scepticism
surrounding algorithmic selection, as it suggests that people
interpret what they see on platforms quite cautiously. Despite
becoming increasingly important for how people get news, most
people are far from enthusiastic about how platforms select news for
them. Platforms, then, rather than seeing their increased importance
as a ringing endorsement of users’ news experience, should perhaps
remember that this is partly due to declining levels of interest in
news, and associated falls in direct access to news websites and apps,
which have made platforms relatively more important. Most people
do not come to platforms for news specifically but come across it
when they are there for other reasons.
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36
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
2.2 Unpacking News Participation
and Online Engagement
over Time
Kirsten Eddy
The digital age, and particularly the rise of social
media, was initially associated with a utopian
vision of global media access and participation.
While internet users
do
have more means of digital
participation than ever before, it has been less
clear whether people in practice use it to actively
participate in their news environments.
Now, as publishers and journalists increasingly worry about news
avoidance and disengagement, they are also grappling with a ‘new
normal’ of more online but often less openly participatory news
users. Smaller proportions of the public are participating with
news actively (22% via posting and commenting), while growing
numbers either participate reactively (31% via reading, liking,
or sharing) or simply do not participate with news at all (47%).
Online and offline participation is not an either/or proposition, as
talking face to face about news (while also falling over time) even
in an increasingly digital media environment remains, on average,
the most widely reported form of news participation, at 32%.
Participation in public life and debate is often considered a central
element of civic engagement in democratic societies. It matters,
then, both how (and how much) people are participating in these
debates as well as who is shaping them. In this chapter, we offer
a deeper dive into news participation and online engagement.
How do people participate with news, and how have these trends
changed over time? And in what public discourse often depicts
as a toxic or divisive digital environment, and where a significant
number of users face very serious harassment, hate speech, and
worse, how does the general public actually feel about engaging
with news or talking about politics?
While negative online news experiences – and the very real, and
often unequal, problems they are a result of – are important,
we find they are not
most
respondents’ experience. Yet many
nonetheless feel they must be wary of what they say as online
and offline discourse become increasingly constrained.
CHANGING NEWS PARTICIPATION AND THE RISE
OF THE PASSIVE CONSUMER
For many years, we have tracked how people share or participate in
news coverage during an average week. Looking at segmentations
of those who engage with online news actively (by posting or
commenting), reactively (by reading, liking, or sharing), and passively
(by consuming news but not participating at all), in recent years
we can see the rise of the passive news consumer (up 5 percentage
points, on average, from 42% in 2018 to 47% in 2023) and reactive
participator (up 6pp, from 25% to 31%) alongside a substantial fall
in active participation (down 11pp, from 33% to 22%).
As we describe in the Executive Summary,
active participators
are now more likely to be men, higher educated, more politically
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
partisan, and more interested in news – so while this group has
declined to less than a quarter of news users, it increasingly looks
like the (unrepresentative) traditional news audience.
Graph 6
PROPORTION IN EACH NEWS PARTICIPATION SEGMENT
(2018–2023) – ALL MARKETS
Active participator (posting, commenting)
Reactive participator (reading, liking, sharing)
Passive consumer (no participation)
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Q13.
During an average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate
in news coverage? Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each market-year ≈ 2000.
Note: Number of markets grew from 36 in 2018 to 46 from 2021 onwards. Markets listed in
online methodology.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
37
100%
17 18 23 33 32 33 34 28 35 30 38 42 51 37 45 42 37 46 42 43 58 44 47 42 49 46 47 50 51 59 63 54 52 51 56 57 54 53 66 57 56 67 64 68 69 79
Why do we see falls in open and active sharing alongside rises in
27 30
passive consumption? There are a number of possible reasons. In
35
75%
part, it may be due to broader changes in
which
social networks
42
people around the world are using for news – for example,
42
31 34 34 35
37
falling Facebook use in general and particularly among younger
39
39
35
audiences alongside Meta’s shift in focus away from news, and the
37 36
34
33
56
31
increasing popularity of private messaging apps
31
especially in Latin
52
50%
24
American, Asia-Pacific, and Eastern European markets. Other
factors, including less optimism about or novelty surrounding the
42
22
participatory opportunities of social media, may also be at play.
36
34 33
31
36
30
Of course, news participation varies considerably across countries and
28 28 27
25%
25
regions. For instance, we find higher overall
25 24 24 24 24 23
trends of participation in
21 21 20 20
African, South East Asian, and Latin American markets, and much
lower participatory trends in markets in Central and Northern
Europe, North America, and East Asia. It is important to note here
6
0%
that data from India and African markets are representative of
PROPORTION THAT SHARE OR COMMENT ON NEWS IN AN
younger, more educated English speakers – and thus, participation
Kenya Thailand Turkey Mexico Bulgaria Chile Brazil GreecePoland Hong Kong
Nigeria Africa
South
India
Philippines
PeruColombia
IndonesiaUSA Romania
Malaysia
Argentina PortugalSpain Republic CanadaFrance
Australia
Czech Croatia
Taiwan
Italy
Hungary
Sweden Switzerland
Slovakia BelgiumKorea Finland Germany Japan
South Norway
AVERAGE WEEK (2018–2023)
Ireland
MARKETS
NetherlandsDenmark
– ALL
Austria Singapore UK
may be higher among these groups than the national population.
However, it is likely that these trends reflect both sample differences
Type of news participation
2018–2023
pp change
as well as media environments with high reliance on and adoption
26%
Share via
↓
-7
of social networks. For instance, a third of people are active
social network
19%
participators in Thailand (36%), where social media is by far the most
12%
Share via
↓
-5
important gateway to news, versus one in ten in Denmark (10%),
email
7%
where direct brand connections remain much stronger.
Our data on news sharing over time also show one closed form of
sharing – via private messaging apps – growing, even amid steady
declines in open forms of sharing and commenting as well as other
closed forms of sharing. Across all markets since 2018, sharing
news stories via social networks has steadily decreased, on average,
from 26% to 19%, and sharing via email is down from 12% to 7%.
39
35 35
33
Meanwhile, sharing news stories via messaging apps has increased,
32
32 32
on average, from 17% to 22%. This is particularly pronounced in
32 34
30
31 33
29 28
29 31
markets in Latin America, South East Asia, and Southern Europe
24
with higher overall use of private messaging apps – such as Colombia
21
25
20
21
(35%), Malaysia (33%), and Spain (30%), where nearly a third
22 21
of people regularly share stories via instant messengers. It also
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
20
maps onto broader rises across all markets in people’s overall use
15
19 19 19 18 18
17
such
16 16
of messaging apps
17 16
as WhatsApp (+9pp) or Telegram (+12pp)
15 15 15 15 14 14 14
13 12
11 10 10
during the same time frame.
Graph 8
Graph 7
100%
When we focus on individual forms of news participation, we find
steady decreases over time for most forms of public participation with
Comment on
10%
-1
9%
a news website
news, both online (e.g. liking, sharing, and commenting on news on
social media) as well as offline (e.g. talking about the news with friends
22%
Share via instant
↑
+5
17%
messenger
and colleagues). In the social media age, ‘shareability’ has become
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE
is produced, consumed,
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
central to how digital news
STUDY OF JOURNALISM /
and (re)distributed.
Q13.
During an average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate in
news coverage? Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each market-year ≈ 2000. Note:
However, it is often unclear to what extent online news users actually
Number of markets grew from 36 in 2018 to 46 from 2021 onwards. Markets listed in online methodology.
embrace these forms of participation.
PROPORTION IN EACH NEWS PARTICIPATION SEGMENT – ALL MARKETS
17 18 23 33 32 33 34 28 35 30 38 42 51 37 45 42 37 46 42 43 58 44 47 42 49 46 47 50 51 59 63 54 52 51 56 57 54 53 66 57 56 67 64 68 69 79
Comment in a
social network
20%
18%
-2
27 30
75%
35
31 34 34 35
56
42
37
42
35
39
33
24
42
36
34 33
31 30
22
31
34
39
31
37 36
36
39
33
32
35 35
50%
52
32 32
24
21
30
32 34
29 28
31 33
20
29 31
21
25
22 21
25%
28 28 27
25 25 24 24 24 24
23
Czech Republic
Greece
Philippines
Thailand
Mexico
Taiwan
Poland
Singapore
Sweden
Belgium
Ireland
Finland
Netherlands
Switzerland
France
Brazil
Portugal
Hong Kong
South Africa
Argentina
Colombia
Indonesia
South Korea
Active participator
Reactive participator
Passive consumer
Q13.
During an average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate in news coverage? Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each market ≈ 2000.
Denmark
Kenya
Nigeria
Bulgaria
Romania
Malaysia
Australia
Turkey
Germany
Croatia
Hungary
Slovakia
Canada
Austria
Norway
Japan
Chile
Spain
Peru
USA
India
Italy
UK
0%
15
21 21 20 20 20
19 19 19 18 18
17 17 16 16 16
15 15 15 15 14 14 14
13 12
11 10 10
6
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38
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
But are those who share news privately distinct from those who
share publicly? Four in ten (41%) of those who say they share
publicly on social media
also
say they share privately on messaging
apps – so while there is substantial overlap, a majority of those
sharing via messaging apps are drawn specifically to this form of
private sharing, or perhaps drawn away from public sharing.
It is difficult to fully explain these trends, but research suggests
segments of the public may now avoid publicly sharing or
participating in news because they perceive online debates as
toxic (Mathews et al. 2022). This may be worsening as relatively
smaller numbers of (often more male, more partisan, and more
motivated) people take up most of the active news participation,
and many in the middle appear to be increasingly wary of publicly
engaging with news and politics online. While offline participation
is not immune to over-time declines, it is telling that talking
offline with friends and colleagues about news remains the most
popular form of news participation among, on average, a third of
news users (32%, down 7pp from 2018).
It is clear that these perceptions have important ties to people’s
broader news participation. Across all markets, people are, on
average, twice as likely to actively participate with news when their
overall perception of engaging with news online is positive (36%)
than negative (18%). Further, those with negative online experiences
(21%) are nearly four times as likely as those with positive online
experiences (6%) to not participate
at all
with news. At the same
time, those with negative experiences are still just as likely to talk
face to face with friends or colleagues about news (36%) as those
with positive online news experiences (37%) – which illustrates that
how people perceive their online news experiences clearly affects
online news participation but may not curb how they interact with
news
offline.
(Of course, the direction of this relationship could also
be the other way around, with participation influencing people’s
online experiences.)
However, perceptions of online news experiences vary
drastically among specific demographic groups, with important
consequences for their participation with news. In some cases,
the gender gap is very clear (7pp in the US), and in certain
markets, politics plays a critical role in these perceptions as
well. On average across all markets, people who are interested
in politics are twice as likely to have positive online news
experiences (48%) as those who are not interested (23%). While
there is little difference between the left and right overall, in
some countries – including the UK (10pp), US (7pp), Brazil (6pp),
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Germany (6pp), and India (5pp) – we find those on the political
left are far more likely than those on the political right to say their
online news experiences are negative.
PROPORTION THAT HAVE A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE
ENGAGING WITH NEWS ONLINE (BY POLITICAL LEANING) –
SELECTED MARKETS
Left
India
Brazil
Germany
USA
UK
0%
7%
13%
17%
19%
25%
14%
13%
19%
24%
29%
50%
19%
Right
‘DON’T READ THE COMMENTS’: HOW PEOPLE FEEL
ABOUT ENGAGING WITH NEWS ONLINE
Whether fairly or not, the comments sections of media sites and
social platforms are largely portrayed in public discourse to be a
hellscape of toxic, uncivil content and online trolls. In qualitative
research we conducted this year, a 64-year-old woman in the UK
expressed, ‘I am shocked, however, by the vitriolic comments
that were left on a recent article … I rarely identify with the
commentators. They could of course be trolls.’
However, compared with other forms of news participation,
reading
comments online is among the most common activities
the public does regularly. This year, we added two new types of
news participation to our survey, asking respondents if they read
the comments on social media posts as well as on news websites.
On average across all markets, 31% of people say they read
comments on social media news posts during an average week, and
a quarter (25%) read comments on news websites.
This compares to around one in five, on average, who share
(19%) or comment on (18%) news stories in a social network,
and one in ten who comment on a story on a news site (9%).
We also asked respondents how positive or negative their
experience is engaging with news online or on social media,
including reading or posting comments and talking to people
about news. We find that while many have reason to be wary of
online participation, across all markets, people are nearly three
times more likely to say their experience engaging with news
online is positive (33%) than negative (13%), with the largest
swath of the public describing their experience as neither positive
nor negative (40%).
Given the public discourse around online engagement, it may be
surprising that a large majority of people do not feel negatively
about these experiences – but this may be, in part, because many are
simply not engaging with news much online. We see some evidence
of this when we look specifically at passive consumers (those who
aren’t participating with news), who are far more likely to express
ambivalence about engaging with online news (43%) than to say
they feel positive (18%) or negative (15%).
Graph 10
Q1_Participation_2023.
How positive or negative is your experience of engagement with news
online or on social media (e.g. reading or posting comments, talking to people about news, etc.)?
Q1F.
Some people talk about ‘left’, ‘right’, and ‘centre’ to describe parties and politicians. With this
in mind, where would you place yourself on the following scale?
Base: Left/Right in India = 490/249,
Brazil = 492/529, Germany = 237/127, US = 535/447, UK = 409/274.
Further, in markets like Portugal, Germany, France, and Brazil, the
youngest cohort of 18–24s are significantly more likely than any
other age group to say they have negative online news experiences.
It may be that younger audiences are more likely to be politically
left-leaning, or that they see more discourse about the internet –
and, specifically, about online comment sections – being negative
environments. It could also be that these age groups are often
more present online and participate more frequently on digital
platforms that tend to be overwhelming, either in terms of toxicity
or the expectations they set on users. However, these trends are less
present in markets such as the US, the UK, and Spain.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
39
People’s perceptions of their online news experiences also play a
Overall, comparing responses within markets, people are generally
role in how and why they take measures to change what they see on
just as likely to feel they must be careful about what they say online
online platforms. On average across all markets, those with negative
as they do offline. There are clearly chilling effects, but it is not
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
online experiences are slightly more likely than those with positive
always clear they are specific to digital media. In around half of all
experiences to actively try to change their news feeds specifically to
markets, majorities of respondents feel they must be careful about
see less negative (28% vs. 24%, respectively) or toxic (33% vs. 29%,
what they say when talking about politics online and offline. These
respectively) content.
concerns are more prominent among political partisans, the highly
educated, and those who are more interested in politics, regardless of
medium. Notably, in many cases, the markets where people are more
PROPORTION WITH NEGATIVE ONLINE NEWS EXPERIENCES THAT
ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE EACH WHEN CHANGING WHAT THEY
concerned about discussing politics online are also often those with
SEE ON ONLINE PLATFORMS – AVERAGE OF SELECTED MARKETS
more active participators. (And some of them have mixed or low media
freedom rankings, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
World Press Freedom Index.) These perceptions are particularly high
to see less negative
to see less
among respondents in countries such as the Philippines (81% online,
or depressing content
toxic content
78% offline) and Peru (70% online, 67% offline), where citizens may
feel the chilling effects of political unrest, online intimidation tactics,
Q2_Algorithms_2023. You said that you try to change what news and information you see on online
or other threats to free expression.
platforms. What are you trying to achieve? Please select all that apply. Q1_Participation_2023.
Graph 11
28%
33%
How positive or negative is your experience of engagement with news online or on social media (e.g.
reading or posting comments, talking to people about news, etc.)? Base: Those with negative online news
experiences who try to change what they see via their algorithm = 1994. Note: Question asked in USA, UK,
Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Brazil.
CONCLUSION
The changing patterns we reveal here for participation with news
suggest, in many markets, less – and perhaps more constrained
– public debate overall, despite the idealistic hopes with which
we entered the digital age. The group of people who make up a
large swathe of what the public sees as open participation with
the news and information cycle continues to shrink. While people
are still more likely to discuss news face to face than other forms
of news participation and are more likely to feel positive or simply
ambivalent about their experience engaging with news online,
many still say they are wary of how they express themselves in
both online and offline settings.
PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL CONVERSATIONS
ONLINE AND OFFLINE
Broadly, there is some sense that public debate is becoming more
constrained, particularly when it comes to online debates about news
and politics. This year, we also asked about how careful people feel
they must be about what they say when they talk about politics online
(via social networks, messaging groups, etc.) or offline (face to face, on
the phone, etc.). On average across 46 markets, majorities of people
express being wary of what they say in political conversations both
online (54%) and offline (52%).
Graph 12
Why this is happening is less clear, but the changing nature of social
Perceptions of not needing to be careful about what one says remain
platforms and the changing role of news within them, the dominance
consistently low across markets when it comes to online political
of an unrepresentative but vocal minority actively engaging online,
conversation. However, we find much more nuance when it comes
and public discourse portraying the news as depressing, as well as
to offline political conversation. For instance, in less politically
the internet (and, specifically, comments sections on news sites
contentious European markets such as Finland (52%), Denmark
and social media) as a uniquely toxic environment likely do not help.
(49%), and Germany (44%), nearly half of people feel they do not
need to be careful about what they say offline. On the other hand,
These trends raise new questions surrounding what participation
in markets like the US
THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM
Brazil (16%), where
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
(28%), Australia (25%), or
/ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
engagement mean in an increasingly online but less openly
and
political debates are often more polarised, this is not the case –
participatory news environment. It may be less that participation has
with around a quarter or less of respondents feeling comfortable
decreased than that the nature of participation is changing, as many
expressing their political opinions offline.
publishers move away from open features of news participation like
CORRELATION BETWEEN PROPORTION WHO FEEL THEY MUST
BE CAREFUL WHEN TALKING ABOUT POLITICS ONLINE AND
PROPORTION OF ACTIVE PARTICIPATORS – ALL MARKETS
online comments sections and as social media platforms downrank
or limit users’ interactions with news.
60%
% active
participators
Nigeria
40%
r
2
= 0.77
India
Peru
USA
France
Denmark
UK Germany
Brazil
Austria
% careful
online
Philippines
20%
It remains to be seen how publishers seeking to build, maintain, and
connect with their audiences will try to adjust to this ‘new normal’
of online participation. However, our findings illustrate a critical
link between how people perceive their experiences engaging with
news online and their willingness to actively participate in it. For
both publishers and platform companies focused on better audience
experiences, this speaks to the clear importance of fostering healthy
digital spaces – including through practices like content moderation
– as one means of promoting online participation, particularly when
it comes to the large segment of the public that is increasingly wary
of engaging online.
0%
0% 10%
20% 30%
40%
50% 60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Q2_Participation_2023.
When talking about politics with people online (e.g. via social networks
or messaging groups), how careful do you feel you have to be with what you say?
Q13.
During an
average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate in news coverage?
Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each market ≈ 2000.
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40
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
2.3 Sources and Drivers
of News Media Criticism
Craig T. Robertson
The news media, as an institution, are integral
to much of politics and public life. With this
role often comes public criticism. Journalists
do not always get the story right and sometimes
omit important voices and points of view.
In such cases, criticism can be fair and help
those interested in fixing mistakes and
improving coverage. Given the influence that
many news outlets have, criticism can also be
about members of the public holding power
to account. On the other hand, this criticism
is sometimes unfair and hostile, and can veer
into dangerous rhetoric aimed at undermining
the free press. This hostile rhetoric often
disproportionately affects women and journalists
from minority and underprivileged backgrounds.
That is especially worrying when cheered on by
powerful politicians and driven by organised
campaigns seeking to silence individual
journalists or independent news media.
Such varied forms of criticism are an integral part of public life,
and often especially visible on social media. In our survey, we
asked how often people are exposed to criticism of the news
media, and, in this chapter, we examine differences in who sees
criticism, as well as differences across markets. We also look at
the sources of criticism people say they are exposed to and on
what platforms they come across it.
At the outset, it is also important to underline that our findings
are based on survey data, which, while useful for the purposes
we use them for here, (a) rely on respondents’ own definitions
of what constitutes criticism, (b) are not able to capture which
specific media or journalists people have seen criticism of, (c) do
not provide a basis for distinguishing between fair and unfair – or
outright dangerous – criticism, and (d) do not tell us what effects
exposure to criticism, fair or unfair, might have on people’s views
or attitudes.
EXPOSURE TO NEWS MEDIA CRITICISM
We asked respondents in every market how often, if at all, they
saw or heard people criticising journalists or the news media
where they lived.
15
On average, across all markets, half of people
(53%) say they are ‘very’ or ‘quite often’ exposed to news
media criticism.
It is important to note at the outset, however, that there is
a large amount of variation in reported exposure to news
media criticism across markets. At the higher end of exposure
are many Latin American and Southern/Eastern European
countries, where as many as two-thirds of people say they very
or quite often see news media criticism. Highest of all is Peru, at
71%. At the lower end are markets such as Singapore, Denmark,
Germany, and Switzerland, where only one-third of people say
they regularly see such criticism. Lowest of all is Japan, at just
22%. Across all markets, political partisans are more likely to
report that they ‘very often’ see news media criticism.
15
The question we asked was broad, intended to capture exposure to both legitimate and unfair forms of criticism, which can look similar depending on the perspective of the
individual exposed.
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2841850_0041.png
Graph 13
75%
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
41
PROPORTION THAT QUITE OFTEN OR VERY OFTEN HEAR PEOPLE CRITICISING JOURNALISTS OR THE NEWS MEDIA – ALL MARKETS
71 69
66 66 65 64 64 64
63 62 62 62 62 62 61 61
59 59 59 58 58 57 57
56 55 55 54
53 53 52
45 44 44 43 43
42 41 40
39 39
36 34 34
33
50%
25%
30
22
Netherlands
Switzerland
Philippines
Czech Rep.
Hong Kong
South Africa
South Korea
Q1_Criticism_2023.
How often, if at all, do you see or hear people criticising journalists or the news media in <country>?
Base: Total sample in each market ≈ 2000.
Graph 14
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
In the Executive Summary, we noted the link between higher levels
of exposure to news media criticism and greater levels of media
distrust. In Eastern European markets such as Bulgaria, Slovakia,
and Hungary, this link is particularly strong. These countries have
seen continued pressure and attacks on journalists from politicians
(Slovakia), state capture of mainstream media and the vilifying of
independent news outlets (Hungary), and ideological struggles
between media outlets with different national visions (Bulgaria).
But it’s difficult to say in many cases which direction this trust–
criticism relationship goes: it may be that more exposure to criticism
influences people’s views, leading them to trust the news media less.
At the same time, those with low trust in news may notice or seek
out more criticism, precisely because of their low trust.
For further information on news media criticism, see relevant
country pages (e.g. Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria) in Section 3
PROPORTION OF THOSE THAT HAVE HEARD PEOPLE
CRITICISING JOURNALISTS OR THE NEWS MEDIA THAT HAVE
HEARD CRITICISM FROM EACH – ALL MARKETS
Politicians or
political activists
42%
58%
in the United States, but just
28%
in Norway and
19%
in Singapore.
Ordinary people that
you don’t know
40%
53%
in Peru and Colombia
Colleagues,
family, or friends
38%
33%
27%
48%
in Chile, but just
16%
in Japan.
Celebrities,
social influencers
47%
in the UK,
43%
in the United States.
SOURCES OF NEWS MEDIA CRITICISM: THE ROLE
OF POLITICIANS AND OTHER PUBLIC FIGURES
In the aggregate, across all markets, politicians and political
activists are the most frequently cited source of news media
criticism among those reporting any level of exposure in general,
with 42% saying this is who they have seen or heard criticism from
in the last year. This is followed closely by exposure to criticism
from ‘ordinary people who you don’t know’ (40%) and friends/
family (38%). Lowest among the sources of news media criticism
that people report being exposed to is criticism from other media
outlets (27%). Many partisan and alternative news outlets often
criticise other media, but these brands tend to be used by smaller
sections of the public.
There are, of course, big differences across markets. Countries such
as the United States (58%), Turkey (53%), and Hungary (53%) rank
among the highest in reported exposure to criticism from politicians
or political activists. In the polarised US context, reported exposure
to news media criticism from politicians among people on the left
and the right is high (64% and 68%, respectively, of those reporting
exposure to criticism, compared with 55% of centrists). Democratic
politicians have been vocal in their criticisms of Fox News in recent
times,
16
while members of the Republican Party have long decried
the so-called ‘liberal media’. Meanwhile, President Erdoğan in
Turkey and Prime Minister Orbán in Hungary continue in their long
campaigns against independent journalists. There is less reported
exposure to criticism from politicians in markets like Norway (28%),
the Netherlands (31%), and Denmark (35%).
Other
journalists
40%
in the United States,
but just
15%
in Finland.
Q2_Criticism_2023.
Which of the following, if any, have you seen or heard criticising journalists or
the news media in your country in the last year? Please select all that apply.
Q1_Criticism_2023.
How often, if at all, do you see or hear people criticising journalists or the news media in <country>?
Base: Those who quite often or very often hear criticism of journalists or the news media = 77,363.
Graph 15
Across markets, those reporting greater exposure to news media
criticism from politicians are older (46% of those aged over 45,
compared with 37% of those under 45) and more interested
in politics (55% of those extremely/very interested in politics,
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
compared with 29% of those not interested). They are also slightly
more politically partisan (45% of those on the left and 48% on the
right, compared with 43% of those in the centre).
Prime Minister of Hungary,
Viktor Orbán
(left),
and President of Turkey,
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
(right).
16
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/02/fox-news-texts-rupert-murdoch-democrats/
Singapore
Greece
Mexico
Poland
France
Taiwan
Thailand
Belgium
Sweden
Ireland
Finland
Colombia
Argentina
Indonesia
Denmark
Brazil
Australia
Portugal
Slovakia
Norway
Germany
Croatia
Bulgaria
Romania
Nigeria
Hungary
Austria
Turkey
Canada
Kenya
Malaysia
Japan
Peru
US
Spain
Chile
India
Italy
UK
0%
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2841850_0042.png
42
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Graph 16
Politicians or political activists are the most frequently cited source
Meanwhile, in the UK, celebrities, comedians, and social media
of news media criticism in a third of all markets (16 out of 46),
personalities rank as the primary source of exposure to news
with reported exposure from politicians being considerably more
media criticism (with 47% of those exposed to media criticism
prevalent in Eastern Europe and markets such as Kenya, Turkey,
in the UK reporting these as a source, followed by politicians at
Hungary, and the United States. This is a reminder that some of
41% and family/friends at 40%). The UK has the highest reported
the most prominent and consistent criticism of journalism tends
exposure to celebrities as a source of media criticism among the
to come from those in political power – at times from those with
markets we survey, where figures like film star Hugh Grant, who
an axe to grind against the free press. This criticism can sometimes
has publicly fronted the Hacked Off campaign to draw attention
become vitriolic, stoking the ire of partisans who follow these
to press accountability and the protection of people from harmful
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
political leaders. Given what we know from decades of research
and unethical journalistic practices, and Prince Harry, who has
on the role of elite cues in how people form opinions (e.g. Fawzi
highlighted the media’s treatment of himself and Meghan Markle,
REUTERS
is also likely to be
STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
2019), it
INSTITUTE FOR THE
among the most consequential forms
feature as prominent critics of the press.
of criticism in terms of undermining trust in news or encouraging
people to turn against the media.
Graph 17
PROPORTION OF THOSE THAT HAVE HEARD PEOPLE
CRITICISING JOURNALISTS OR THE NEWS MEDIA THAT
HAVE HEARD CRITICISM FROM POLITICIANS OR POLITICAL
ACTIVISTS – SELECTED MARKETS
Kenya
United States
Czech Republic
Slovakia
South Korea
Hungary
Turkey
Poland
Austria
Croatia
Nigeria
South Africa
Brazil
Philippines
UK
Colombia
Denmark
Finland
Japan
Ireland
Netherlands
Belgium
Norway
Singapore
0%
60
58
57
54
54
53
53
49
47
47
47
47
46
46
41
35
35
35
34
31
31
30
28
19
25%
50%
75%
100%
Higher
levels of
criticism
Hugh Grant
(left) and
Prince Harry
(right) have been
prominent critics of the UK news media.
The US also ranks high (4th) in reported exposure to criticism
from celebrities, at 43%, and high (3rd) in reported exposure to
media criticism from other media (at 40%), with the latter likely
being driven by the increasingly antagonistic relationship between
politically polarised news outlets.
Across markets, reported exposure to news media criticism
from celebrities is slightly higher among younger people (36%
of those aged under 45, compared with 31% of those over 45),
likely because of their more frequent use of social media and
the higher attention they pay in general to these individuals
for news and information.
THE ROLES OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC
IN DISSEMINATING NEWS MEDIA CRITICISM
Turning from
sources
of criticism to
platforms
for criticism, we
also asked people in 12 markets
17
where they mainly saw or
heard criticism of journalists or the news media. Social media
is by far the most common way people say they are exposed
to criticism, with 49% of those reporting exposure to criticism
across markets saying this is where they see or hear it, followed
by discussions with people they know (36%) and the news media
themselves (35%). Most of those who see criticism have seen
it on two or more platforms (including offline) but, across the
markets surveyed, a quarter of people (25%) say they have
only
seen it via social media.
These numbers are perhaps not surprising since, on social media,
there is much more opportunity to see news media criticism from all
types of sources, whether they are politicians, celebrities, or everyday
people. Younger people are more likely to report seeing news media
criticism on social media, while a higher proportion of those in older
age groups report seeing criticism via the news media.
Lower
levels of
criticism
Q2_Criticism_2023.
Which of the following, if any, have you seen or heard criticising journalists or
the news media in your country in the last year? Please select all that apply.
Q1_Criticism_2023.
How often, if at all, do you see or hear people criticising journalists or the news media in <country>?
Base: Those who quite often or very often hear criticism of journalists or the news media ranging from
Philippines = 2073 to Denmark = 1412.
17
These 12 markets were: US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Slovakia, Croatia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
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2841850_0043.png
Graph 18
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
43
PROPORTION OF THOSE THAT HAVE HEARD PEOPLE
CRITICISING JOURNALISTS OR THE NEWS MEDIA THAT
HAVE HEARD CRITICISM FROM EACH – AVERAGE OF
SELECTED MARKETS
75%
18–24
25–34
35–44
45–54
55+
50%
58 58
53
48
43
26
30 32
25%
35
39
35 37 35 35 37
In the UK, which has long had robust protections for the press,
allowing journalists to engage in fierce criticism of public figures,
criticisms in kind are often necessary. Criticism can make the
media more accountable to the public they profess to serve and
improve journalism in the process. Frequent jibes at the press from
politicians, celebrities, and members of the public – which may be
55+
debated as fair or unfair, depending on the perspective – are part
45–54
of public discourse. When the news media has been shown to have
35–44
caused harm – such as in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal
and subsequent Leveson Inquiry in the UK – criticism is important
25–34
for instigating reform, just as it can be a necessary part of reckoning
18–24
with how the news media have dealt with issues including, for
example, climate, gender, race, and sexuality.
But in markets with less robust press protections or declining press
freedoms, criticism can take on a different character. On the back of
anti-media rhetoric from populist politicians and hardline leaders,
coordinated harassment campaigns can become super-charged
by partisans on social media, and be dangerous and harmful for
those at the receiving end. The often unfair and vitriolic form of
criticism which comes from this, and which is intended to silence
independent voices, can overwhelm individual journalists and
sometimes lead to real-world violence against them. It is in these
circumstances where criticism becomes something altogether
different – and more dangerous for independent journalism and
news media.
0%
Social media
The news media
When talking with
people you know
Q3_Criticism_2023.
Where do you mainly see or hear criticism of journalists or the news media
in <market>? Please select all that apply.
Q1_Criticism_2023.
How often, if at all, do you see or
hear people criticising journalists or the news media in <market>?
Base: Those who quite often or
very often hear criticism of journalists or the news media aged 18–24 = 1,827, 25–34 = 3,039, 35–44 =
3,234, 45–54 = 3,345, 55+ = 7,948. Note: Question asked in USA, UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands,
Slovakia, Croatia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Exposure to criticism from friends/family and people in the general
public is particularly high in Latin American countries such as Chile,
where the actions of journalists in recent times have attracted sharp
criticism on social media (48% of those exposed to criticism in Chile
report exposure from family/friends, 50% from the general public). In
Colombia – a market also high in reported exposure to criticism from
the general public (53%) and family/friends (47%) – President Gustavo
Petro has been lashing out at the press on Twitter, stoking concerns
that citizens may interpret his messages as permitting attacks on
journalists. In Peru, a country which has been marked by recent
political turmoil and which sees high levels of exposure to criticism
from the general public (53%), there are rising concerns about threats
and attacks against journalists. In these countries, we are reminded of
how certain members of the public can take cues from political leaders
and amplify sometimes forceful criticism of the press on social media
platforms. It is also clear that such criticism sometimes takes the form
of campaigns orchestrated by political actors with influencers and PR
companies working on their behalf (see e.g. Ong and Cabañes 2019).
For further information on news media criticism, see relevant
country pages (e.g. Chile, Colombia, Peru) in Section 3
FINDING THE LINE BETWEEN FAIR AND UNFAIR
CRITICISM
As this chapter shows, criticism of the news media is pervasive,
coming from a range of sources. In some markets, criticism is
particularly prevalent from politicians (e.g. US, Turkey, Hungary),
while in others it can come more often from other public figures
(e.g. UK) or everyday people (e.g. Chile, Colombia, Peru). The sources
and drivers of news media criticism vary from market to market.
It is important to note again that not all criticism is bad, and that a
large amount of criticism does not necessarily mean that journalists
are doing a poor job. As often powerful entities which also deal
out their fair share of criticism – of politicians, businesspeople,
celebrities, and others – this criticism sometimes comes with the
territory, and some of the criticism is fair. At the same time, there are
cases where a large share of criticism is driven by powerful actors
systematically trying to undermine independent media, or spread
by highly motivated networks of partisans attacking the media for
political purposes.
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2841850_0044.png
44
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
2.4 The Importance of Public
Service Media for Individuals
and for Society
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
and
Richard Fletcher
Public service media are in principle meant to serve
the whole public. As the BBC’s mission states, the
UK’s largest public service media organisation’s
purpose is ‘to act in the public interest, serving
all audiences through the provision of impartial,
high-quality and distinctive output and services
which inform, educate and entertain’.
Public service media continue to face critical scrutiny and
scepticism – whether from private sector competitors, some
politicians, or parts of the public – and where they exist, they
are also often by far the biggest direct government intervention
in the media market. In the UK, for example, Ofcom estimates
that publicly funded channels account for just over 10% of total
television sector revenues, online audiovisual included (down
from about 25% in 2013).
18
Even where the public service mission is accompanied by significant
public funding, however, reaching the whole public, and serving
everybody, is a challenging remit. Our data can help shed light on one
aspect of how this is going, by documenting how important citizens
feel the news side is of what public service media do – (1) for them
personally, and (2) for society. This is a significant aspect of the ‘public
connection’ that these institutions are based on, and a key part of the
political legitimacy they rely on. These are subjective judgements,
and not an objective assessment of how well they are delivering on
their remit, or how much public value they create, but still important
to understand in their own right.
Graph 19
Across these countries, the balance of public opinion overall,
between those who say that public service news services are
very important or quite important minus those who find these
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
services quite unimportant or very unimportant, is shown below.
(The percentage who answered ‘neither important nor unimportant’
or ‘don’t know’ is reported next to the bar for each country.)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROPORTION THAT THINK PUBLIC
SERVICE MEDIA NEWS IS IMPORTANT VS. UNIMPORTANT
– SELECTED COUNTRIES
Net importance is the proportion that said public service media is important minus the proportion
that said it is unimportant.
Country
Finland
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Portugal
Netherlands
South Korea
Belgium
Switzerland
Australia
Italy
Ireland
Germany
UK
Canada
France
Austria
Spain
Japan
Net: important
to me
60
59
53
50
46
44
43
41
36
34
28
25
22
20
19
18
16
15
0
0%
% Neither/
Don’t know
19
23
23
21
27
32
29
32
30
30
35
29
27
28
37
38
26
35
39
75%
Net: important
for society
72
68
63
57
54
52
55
49
49
47
36
40
32
32
28
26
29
24
4
0%
% Neither/
Don’t know
13
21
19
20
23
30
23
30
27
26
34
24
28
25
35
37
25
35
40
75%
DOES THE PUBLIC THINK PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS
IS IMPORTANT?
As part of this year’s
Digital News Report,
we have collected online
survey data on these two questions from respondents in a subset
of countries home to public service media that are generally seen
as being relatively independent of government.
Q1_PSM_2023g_1/2.
How important, or not, are publicly funded news services such as <brand>
to you personally/for society?
Base: Total sample in each country ≈ 2000.
18
https:/
/www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/cmr/the-communications-market-2022/communications-market-report-2022-interactive-data
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2841850_0045.png
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
45
Graph 20
It is not only the case that those who use public service media news
services are more likely to say they are important
for them personally
Respondents’ views on the importance of public service media news
(this makes sense, and the causality could go both ways). It is also
services for them personally, and for society, are strongly related.
the case that those who use these services – in particular those who
But notably, in almost every country covered, a significantly
higher
use them frequently – are much more likely to see these services
proportion say that public service media news services are ‘important
as important
for society,
perhaps in part based on the content they
for society’ than say they are important for them personally. It seems
see. These findings clearly
STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
service
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE
suggest that the breadth of public
SUMMARY GRAPHS
that the
public
value is often clearer than the
private
value – some
news reach and frequency of use are important drivers of people’s
people see public service media as something that is good for other
experience and perception of both their personal and societal
people even if they aren’t necessarily personally
/ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
importance and potentially, by extension, their political legitimacy.
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM
all that reliant on
them. But it is also clear that the number of people who believe
public service media are important for others while not important
PROPORTION THAT SAY PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA NEWS IS
for themselves is just a few percent.
IMPORTANT BY FREQUENCY OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA
NEWS USE – SELECTED COUNTRIES
In about 80% of the countries covered, a majority of respondents
say that public service media are important for society, and in all 19
countries, more people say important for society than unimportant.
In more than half the countries, a majority of respondents say that
public service media are important for them personally, and in 18 of
the 19 countries, more people say important for them personally
than unimportant (in Japan, the latter numbers are equal).
And indeed, this is what we find. If we compare across three groups –
first, those who say they have not used the main public service news
provider in their country in the last week, second, those who say they
have used it once or twice, and, third, those who say they have used it
three times or more – the differences are clear and striking.
Graph 21
PROPORTION THAT THINK PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA NEWS IS
IMPORTANT – SELECTED COUNTRIES
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
Spain
Important
for society
Finland (Yle)
Not at all
Once or twice a week
Three times or more a week
Important for me
46
61
88
0%
100%
Important for society
65
74
91
0%
100%
In almost every country
a signi cantly higher
proportion say that
public service media is
‘important for society’
compared with
‘important for me’
UK
Finland
Japan (NHK)
Not at all
Once or twice a week
Three times or more a week
Important for me
16
40
54
0%
100%
Important for society
18
45
54
0%
100%
Spain (RTVE)
Not at all
Once or twice a week
Japan
Important for me
34
47
65
0%
100%
Important for society
38
60
71
0%
100%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0%
Three times or more a week
UK (BBC)
Not at all
Important
for me
Important for me
23
39
65
0%
100%
Important for society
32
58
70
0%
100%
Once or twice a week
Three times or more a week
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90% 100%
Q1_PSM_2023g_1/2.
How important, or not, are publicly funded news services such as
<brand> to you personally/for society?
Base: Total sample in each country ≈ 2000.
WHO CONSIDERS PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA
IMPORTANT?
The data we have collected also allow us both to look more closely
at
who
considers public service media news important and to
examine, considering a sample of different countries, the relations
between people’s perception of the importance of public service
and other factors, including (a) their experience of using public
service news, (b) their social background or political orientation,
or (c) their use of other sources of news.
Take using public service media first: all kinds of media content are
what economists call ‘experience goods’, products where the value
and quality can only be ascertained by actually using the good in
question. This means that those who use public service news –
especially those who use it regularly – may well have a different
perspective on it than those who do not.
Q1_PSM_2023g_1/2.
How important, or not, are publicly funded news services such as <brand> to
you personally/for society?
Q5AI/BI.
You said you have used the following brands to access news
offline/online in the last week ... Which of these, if any, did you use on 3 days or more? Please select all
that apply.
Base: Those that used public service media news Not at all/Once or twice a week/Three times or
more a week in Finland = 615/266/1,146, Japan = 1,098/194/717, Spain = 1,455/206/307, UK = 681/224/1,202.
This is an important finding because recognising the relationship
between people’s experience of using public service news services
and their perception of societal importance helps inform our
understanding of other factors that might influence their opinion,
for example, their age, level of education, or political orientation.
At a first glance, the data would suggest that, for example, younger
people, those with lower levels of formal education, and those who
are politically on the right are less likely than others to think that
public service news services are important for society. Do these
correlations hold up when also considering use? Statistical analysis
suggests that only some of them do.
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2841850_0046.png
46
50%
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
conf.high
conf.low
25%
E ect of age
Graph 22
Age, for example, is not a significant variable when controlling for
This kind of closer statistical analysis is useful both in dispelling the
use, whereas level of education and political orientation remain
idea that age in itself matters and confirming that other social and
0%
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
significant. This means that lower
Age
perceived importance of public
political factors, including education and political orientation, do play a
service media news services among younger people likely have
role. It also finds that use – personal experience of public service news
nothing to do with age
per se,
and more to do with the fact that
– is the strongest and most consistent predictor of whether people
many younger people, who have grown up preferring digital,
believe public service media news services are important for society.
mobile, and platform media, have little or no experience of using
these services. Young people who actually use them are no less
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN PERCEIVED
likely than older people to see them as important. This underlines
how important it is for their long-term legitimacy that public
IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND USING
service media reach young people and serve them better.
OTHER MEDIA?
PREDICTED EFFECT OF AGE ON LIKELIHOOD OF THINKING
PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA NEWS IS IMPORTANT FOR SOCIETY –
SELECTED COUNTRIES
Effect of age
Effect of age controlling for other variables
Older people are more likely to
think that public service media are
important to society
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
20
But when we control for other variables
there are no differences by age –
suggesting variables like use of public
service media are more important
An additional issue our data can help illuminate is the relationship
between public service media news services and private sector
competitors. For-profit news publishers often fear that public
service providers will crowd them out of the market, whereas public
service media often argue that their services contribute to what
is sometimes called ‘market conditioning’, effectively increasing
conf.high1
demand by stimulating interest and serving as a gateway to other
conf.low1
providers. To our knowledge, no peer-reviewed academic research
E ect of age controlling for other variables
has found support for the crowding-out effect when it comes to news
(Sehl et al. 2020), but it remains a real enough concern – and is loudly
conf.high
enough proclaimed – that it merits continual consideration.
conf.low
30
40
50
Age
60
70
80
90
Note: Predictions based on binomial logistic regression model. Variables included are age, political
leaning, education, and public service media use. Data from total samples in Finland, Japan, Spain,
and the UK are pooled with fixed effects for country. Shaded areas show 95% confidence intervals.
Education, in contrast, is still a significant predictor of people’s
perception of public service media news, also when we take
frequency of use into account. Those with higher levels of
education are more likely to say they think public service media
news services are important for society. It is not clear what the
underlying causal mechanism is here, but given discussions of
the relative lack of diversity in public service news media, also
in terms of class, it is possible that less privileged parts of the
public are less likely to see themselves and their sensibilities
reflected, represented, and respected by public service media
news than white-collar professionals with university degrees are.
(It is probable that similar dynamics exist around lack of diversity
and representation when it comes to, for example, ethnicity and
religion, but our data are not detailed enough, and our sample size
not large enough, to allow us to address this.)
Finally, political orientation too remains a significant predictor,
also when we take frequency of use into account. Respondents
who place themselves on the political left are more likely to
say that public service news media are important for society
than those who place themselves in the centre, those who
place themselves on the right, or those who are more politically
disengaged. Several different factors could contribute to this.
One possibility is ideological conviction – those on the political
right might be less positive about government intervention in the
media market, as they might be of government intervention in any
market. Another is variable trust – in several, but not all, countries,
those on the left trust public service news more than others. Elite
cues could also play a role, as right-wing politicians often attack
public service media and those who support these politicians may
take a lead from them.
Graph 23
One way to shed further light on this issue is to consider the
E ect of age
relationship between people’s perception of whether public service
media news services are important for society and their use of other
news sources, specifically the offline and online offers of newspaper
publishers, who often are most concerned about crowding out.
Looking again at a subset of the markets covered, we consistently
find that respondents who think public service media are important
for society are also slightly more likely to have used a newspaper
brand offline or online in the past week. It seems that the sense
of direct antagonism and zero-sum trade-offs between private
provision and public service that
OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE
express
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY
some newspaper editorials
SUMMARY GRAPHS
is not a view shared by many of their own readers. Instead, belief in
the importance of public service media seems to go hand in hand
with newspaper readership.
PROPORTION THAT USED A PRINT BRAND ONLINE OR
OFFLINE IN THE LAST WEEK BY PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE
OF PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA NEWS – SELECTED COUNTRIES
Finland (Yle)
Neither/Unimportant
Important
Important for me
85
94
0%
100%
Important for society
85
93
0%
100%
Japan (NHK)
Neither/Unimportant
Important
Important for me
31
0%
Important for society
31
100%
0%
57
55
100%
Spain (RTVE)
Neither/Unimportant
Important
Important for me
66
0%
Important for society
67
76
100%
0%
100%
78
UK (BBC)
Neither/Unimportant
Important
Important for me
50
0%
Important for society
51
100%
0%
64
61
100%
Q5A/B.
Which of the following brands have you used to access news offline/online in the last week?
Please select all that apply.
Q1_PSM_2023g_1/2.
How important, or not, are publicly funded news
services such as <brand> to you personally/for society?
Base: Neither or Unimportant/Important for me
in Finland = 563/1,430, Japan = 1,311/622, Spain = 1,139/842, UK = 1,004/1,009 and Neither or Unimportant/
Important for society in Finland = 384/1,607, Japan = 1,277/649, Spain = 1,024/945, UK = 843/11,57.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
47
THE BREADTH OF PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS REACH
IS CENTRAL FOR PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF ITS
IMPORTANCE
In summary, a closer analysis of whether – and which – respondents
feel that public service media news services are important for them
personally, and/or for society, demonstrates that the experience
of actually using these services is by far the strongest predictor of
people’s assessment of their importance. When taking use into
account, other factors like age are no longer statistically significant,
and factors that are – including level of education and political
orientation – are still less important than use. Those with limited
levels of formal education and those who are politically on the right
(or disconnected) still tend to value public service if they use it, and
across all groups, a belief in the importance of public service media
news services often goes hand in hand with use of other sources of
news in our analysis of newspaper brands (whether offline or online).
These findings have important strategic implications. If public
service media at least in part base their political legitimacy on the
public’s experience of and belief in their importance, then the most
important groups to convince are younger people, those with lower
levels of formal education, and those on the political right as well as
the politically disengaged. And the thing that may change their view
is the experience of using public service news. In contrast, a narrower
‘market failure’ remit that limits public service media to specific
tasks that often draw little public attention, or other incentives and
forms of governance that orient them towards primarily catering to
the needs and interests of older, highly educated people and those
on their political left, will probably further erode public support.
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2841850_0048.png
48
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
2.5 News Podcasts: Who is
Listening and What Formats
are Working?
Nic Newman
Graph 24
Over the last few years, much has been written
about a so-called golden age of podcasting, which
many date from the launch of the true crime show
Serial (2014) and a subsequent wave of ‘deep dive’
news podcasts such as The Daily from the
New York
Times
(2017). But outside a few top shows, we still
know very little about which podcasts are being
consumed across countries, who uses them, or
even how engaging they are for consumers.
This is partly because of the lack of mature, publicly available
measurement systems, with consumption fragmented across
proprietary platforms such as Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
In some countries, such as Australia, the United States, and
Denmark, there are published lists of top news podcasts, but
these depend on active participation from news organisations
and often do not provide a complete picture.
In this chapter, we rely on online survey methodologies to
understand how news podcasts fit into the wider ecosystem and
to identify some of the most popular news podcasts across a
number of countries.
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
PROPORTION THAT LISTENED TO A PODCAST IN THE LAST
MONTH (2018–2023) – SELECTED MARKETS
20 countries aggregated over time 2018–2023
50%
Any podcast
News podcast
34%
25%
29%
11%
0%
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
12%
2023
Different types of podcast (2023)
Specialist
subjects
15%
Lifestyle
13%
12%
News
Contemporary
life
11%
Sport
7%
Q11F_2018.
A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files, which you can download,
subscribe, or listen to. Which of the following types of podcast have you listened to in the last
month? Please select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each country-year ≈ 2000. Note: Question
asked in UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium,
Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and Argentina (since 2019).
NEWS PODCAST USE STABLE AS OVERALL
PODCAST MARKET GROWS
Since 2018, our survey has tracked monthly podcast use in 20
countries
19
with a well-developed podcast industry. Across these
markets, overall usage has grown from just over a quarter of our
sample to about a third (34%), but news podcasts have grown more
slowly despite a significant increase in supply identified in multiple
studies (Newman and Gallo 2019). News jostles for attention with
lifestyle and specialist shows, many of which also deal with
news-related subjects such as business, technology, and health.
Podcasting may not yet be a mass market medium, but its audience
profile is extremely interesting to publishers and to advertisers.
Listeners tend to be richer, better educated, and crucially much
younger (see chart on next page). As we showed in the Executive
Summary, younger people in most countries are more likely to say
they prefer to listen to news content when compared with older
groups – partly because they spend so much time with mobile
phones. But people of all ages find podcasts a convenient format
when commuting, walking the dog, in the gym, or doing mundane
tasks at home such as cleaning.
19
The countries are UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada,
plus Argentina (since 2019).
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0049.png
Graph 25
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
49
PROFILE OF THOSE THAT LISTENED TO A PODCAST IN THE
LAST MONTH – AVERAGE OF SELECTED COUNTRIES
Podcast listeners are younger, richer, received more education
Listeners more likely to be men
75%
50%
DIFFERENT TYPES OF NEWS PODCASTS AND
COUNTRY COMPARISONS
In addition to exploring levels of consumption, we asked survey
respondents in 12 countries to name the news shows they used
most often and coded these responses by publisher, type, and
origin country. Typically, between 200 and 700 shows were
mentioned in each country, but it is important to note that we left
the definition of news and current affairs podcast open to
respondents, so it is likely that some popular shows were missed.
Recall methodologies will inevitably produce different results
from industry data.
In categorising these shows, we extended a typology first developed
for our 2019 report
News Podcasts and the Opportunities for Publishers
(Newman and Gallo 2019; also in Newman and Gallo 2020), which
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
identified four podcast groups in ascending length order: news
round-ups, deep dive podcasts, narrative documentaries, and
extended chat.
Younger age profile
56
53
38%
30%
25%
0%
41
30
19
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-55 55+
75%
50%
25%
0%
Better educated
75%
50%
25%
0%
Richer/Higher income
25
31
43
46
35
34
41
Graph 27
Low Medium High Degree
Low Medium High
Q11F_2018.
A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files, which you can download, subscribe
or listen to. Which of the following types of podcast have you listened to in the last month?
Base:
Men/Women = 19,751/21,151, 18-24/25-34/35-44/45-54/55+ = 3914/6449/6883/6845/16,811, Low/Medium/
High/Degree education = 8447/16,894/15,561/11,467, Low/Medium/High income = 9074/15,875,9296 in UK,
Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Australia, Singapore,
Argentina, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Ireland.
NEWS PODCAST TYPOLOGY WITH EXAMPLES OF EACH
1
News round-ups
(typically 1–10 minutes)
Podcasts that update audiences
briefly with multiple stories.
2
Deep dive/explanatory
(typically 20 minutes)
Examine one or two subjects
in detail, narrative style with
sound design.
Graph 26
Overall consumption of news podcasts is highest in the United
States (19%), but lower in many European countries such as
France (9%) and the UK (8%). This difference reflects the vibrancy
and range of news podcast production and monetisation in the
United States, which in turn has driven public awareness and
strong consumption.
THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR
In many European countries, the existence
GRAPHS
of high-quality output from commercial and public service radio
may have made it harder for an independent podcasting sector to
gain traction.
PROPORTION THAT LISTENED TO A NEWS PODCAST
IN THE LAST MONTH – SELECTED COUNTRIES
USA
Sweden
Australia
Ireland
Spain
Japan
Norway
Canada
Denmark
Switzerland
Austria
Finland
Singapore
Germany
Italy
France
Netherlands
Argentina
Belgium
UK
0%
3
Documentary
(30–40 minute episodes)
Narrative style series, same
subject over multiple episodes.
4
Extended chat
(up to 4 hours)
Round-table discussions,
informal style, personality-led.
14
+2pp
14
14
13
13
13
13
12
12
11
+3pp
11
10
10
9
9
9
9
8
17
19
+4pp
accessed a news podcast
in the last month
(average)
12%
Across countries, we find that personality-led ‘extended chat’
programmes like The Joe Rogan Experience are mentioned
most often, along with ‘deep dives’ such as The Daily from the
New York Times.
Short news rounds-ups like Tagesschau’s News
in 100 Seconds from German public service broadcaster (PSB)
ARD or 5 Things from CNN are also popular, often forming part
of morning routines. By contrast, longer documentary series
such as the investigation by ITV News into lockdown parties in
Downing Street (Partygate: The Inside Story) are mentioned more
rarely. In some countries, we find uneven distribution, with a few
big shows dominating and a very long tail, but in others listening
is more evenly spread. There is considerable cross-border
listening – around 50% in some English-speaking markets.
25%
50%
Q11F_2018.
A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files, which you can download, subscribe,
or listen to. Which of the following types of podcasts have you listened to in the last month? Please
select all that apply.
Base: Total sample in each country ≈ 2000.
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2841850_0050.png
Graph 28
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
50
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
TOP TEN NEWS PODCASTS – USA
Michael
Barbaro
The Daily, New York Times
Podcast name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
The Daily
Joe Rogan Experience
Pod Save America
Up First
Ben Shapiro Show
Producer
New York Times
Joe Rogan/Spotify
Crooked Media
NPR
Daily Wire
Type
Deep dive
Extended chat
Extended chat
News round-up
Extended chat
Extended chat
Extended chat
News round-up
News round-up
News round-up
Joe
Rogan
Spotify
Avg. episode
length
24m
3hr 10m
1hr 15m
13m
1hr 8m
45m
55m
14m
15m
10m
In the United States podcasting is dominated by male hosts, most
often from the right (e.g. Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino), but sometimes
from the left (e.g. Rachel Maddow). By contrast news round-ups
(e.g. Up First, Apple News Today) and deep dives (e.g. The Daily)
tend to have a more neutral tone. Hosting duties are often shared
between men and women.
20
In the UK, the top three podcasts are politically focused extended
chat shows, two of which are daily. The BBC has created a number
of original podcasts, such as Newscast and Ukrainecast, as well as
repackaging versions of popular radio shows, but is facing
competition from commercial broadcasters, newspapers, and other
disrupters. The Rest is Politics is hosted by a former Conservative
politician and a former Labour spin doctor, while The News Agents
(Global Radio) is presented by three former BBC correspondents who
were lured from the Corporation with big money deals and the
opportunity to express more of their personal opinions. The bulk of
shows in the list are created and produced in the UK.
We find a slightly different position in Australia, another country
where publishers have invested heavily in original podcasts in the
last few years. Here, deep dive, explanatory podcasts make up the
bulk of the top-ten listings, including Full Story from the
Guardian,
ABC News Daily, and 7am from independent media company
Schwartz Media. A wide range of US and British podcasts make this
a particularly crowded market, with 46% of the most-listened-to
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
shows originating from outside Australia. National broadcaster
ABC News makes up around a quarter of the mentioned podcasts,
ahead of the BBC (in second place).
Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
Dan Bongino Show
Morning Wire
NPR Politics Podcast
Cumulus Podcast
Network
Daily Wire
NPR
Apple News
10
Apple News Today
of the podcast hosts
people are paying
more attention
to are men
64%
of podcasts
named come
from PSB
NPR
10%
of the top shows
listened to originate
from outside the
United States
6%
Graph 29
TOP TEN NEWS PODCASTS – UK
Alistair Campbell
& Rory Stewart
Goalhanger Podcasts
Podcast name
1=
The Rest is Politics
1=
Newscast
1=
The News Agents
4
5
6
7
8
9
Americast
Today in Focus
Ukrainecast
The NS Podcast
Joe Rogan Experience
The Trawl
Producer
Goalhanger
Podcasts
BBC News
Global Media/
Persephonica
BBC News
The Guardian
BBC News
New Statesman
Joe Rogan/Spotify
Jemma Forte &
Marina Purkiss
Podmasters
Type
Extended chat
Extended chat
Extended chat
Extended chat
Deep dive
Extended chat
Extended chat
Extended chat
Extended chat
Extended chat
TOP TEN NEWS PODCASTS – AUSTRALIA
Adam
Fleming
Newscast, BBC News
Avg. episode
length
43m
31m
35m
42m
29m
32m
24m
3hr 10m
35m
1hr 6m
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Various
Presenters
Guardian Australia
Podcast name
Producer
Type
Samantha
Hawley
ABC News Daily
Avg. episode
length
23m
3hr 10m
13m
21m
21m
Full Story/Today in Focus
Guardian Australia Deep dive
Joe Rogan Experience
ABC News Daily
7am
The Quicky
Sky News Daily
The Daily
The Front
Jordan B. Peterson
Joe Rogan/Spotify
ABC News
Schwartz Media
Mamamia
Sky News
New York Times
The Australian
Daily Wire
BBC News
Extended chat
Deep dive
Deep dive
Deep dive
News round-up 20m
Deep dive
Deep dive
Extended chat
Extended chat
24m
12m
1hr 34m
31m
10
Oh God, What Now?
10
Global News Podcast
of the podcast hosts
people are paying
more attention
to are men
75%
of podcasts
named come
from PSB
BBC
31%
of the top shows
listened to originate
from outside
the UK
6%
of the podcast hosts
people are paying
more attention
to are men
59%
of podcasts
named come
from PSB
ABC
25%
of the top shows
listened to originate
from outside
Australia
46%
Q2_Podcasts_2023.
You say that you have listened to a news podcast in the last month ... which
news podcasts do you listen to regularly?
Base: Those that listened to a news podcast in the last
month. USA = 418, UK = 161. Note: Open-ended question. Respondents could type in up to three podcasts.
Q2_Podcasts_2023.
You say that you have listened to a news podcast in the last month ...
which news podcasts do you listen to regularly?
Base: Those that listened to a news podcast in
the last month = 293. Note: Open-ended question. Respondents could type in up to three podcasts.
20
Many programmes have dual male/female hosts, but for the purpose of this exercise we identified the first voice heard on each podcast on a particular day and categorised accordingly.
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2841850_0051.png
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
51
Graph 30
The large German market is developing in interesting ways. Public
Other English-speaking markets we analysed show a similar profile,
broadcasters such as ARD dominate with repurposed radio as well
with a mix of deep dive and extended chat podcasts as well as a
as native news podcasts. T-Mobile has a successful news briefing
strong male bias in hosting. In Canada and Ireland, we find that the
show aimed partly at smart speakers. Former print publishers such
percentage of consumption from outside the country is even higher
as
(about 50% in each case). In Canada, the two most mentioned
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Die Zeit
have developed a range of podcasts, including interview
show Alles GeSegt (All Is Said), which only finishes when there is
podcasts were The Joe Rogan Experience and The Daily, despite
nothing left to say. One interview lasted for eight and a half hours.
domestic deep dive alternatives such as Frontburner and
Ça s’explique from public broadcasters CBC and Radio-Canada.
DOMESTIC PODCASTS OUTPERFORMED BY MANY US-BASED
RIVALS IN CANADA
Deep dive
Extended chat
SMALLER COUNTRIES MAY TAKE A DIFFERENT PATH
Some of the highest levels of podcast listening in Europe are taking
place in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. In all these
countries strong public broadcasters have led the charge, creating
successful native podcasts in addition to reworking radio output.
Danish public broadcaster DR’s deep dive Genstart, launched just
before the Coronavirus lockdowns, stands head and shoulders
above any other, with 24% of news podcast mentions compared
with 5% for the next most popular show. Overall, DR podcasts
account for half (51%) of all cited news shows and are bringing a
significantly younger audience. Broadcaster TV2 and commercial
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
publishers Berlingske and Politiken compete for upmarket news
audiences, while
BT
and tabloid
Ekstra Bladet
are also engaging
audiences with true crime and entertainment podcasts.
NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING MARKETS
Graph 31
News podcasts in France are dominated by public and commercial
radio networks such as France Inter and RTL, along with 24-hour
news networks France Info and BFM. Many of these adapt existing
news programming, but there have been some notable podcast-
first disruptions. La Story from financial newspaper
Les Echos
was
one of the first to adopt the explanatory single-story format, and
TOP FIVE NEWS PODCASTS – DENMARK
Le Monde
has started an explanatory podcast with funding from
Spotify. However, in terms of raw numbers, both of these were
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
Podcast name
Producer
Type
eclipsed in our data by journalist and YouTuber Hugo Décrypte,
who produces Actus du Jour, a ten-minute podcast in audio and
1
Genstart
DR (public broadcaster) Deep dive
video that explains the news of the day for a younger audience.
Graph 33
Avg. episode
length
15m
30m
15m
2
Orientering
DR
TV2
DR
BT
Deep dive
Deep dive
NATIVE PODCASTS IN FRANCE ARE OFTEN ECLIPSED
BY RADIO OUTPUT
3
Dato
4
Tiden
5
Det, Vi Taler Om
News round-up 30m
Extended chat
55m
55%
News
round-up
Deep dive
Deep dive
of top podcasts are
repurposed shows from
public service and
commercial broadcasters
of named news
podcasts are Danish,
just 9% from
other countries
91%
of named news
podcasts are
from PSB
DR
51%
Q2_Podcasts_2023.
You say that you
have listened to a news podcast in the last
month ... which news podcasts do you
listen to regularly?
Base: Those that listened
to a news podcast in the last month = 260.
Note: Open-ended question. Respondents
could type in up to three podcasts.
Graph 32
We find a similar situation in Spain, where many radio shows have
been repackaged as chat-based podcasts. The most well-known
newspapers,
El País
and
El Mundo,
have developed deep dive
In Norway, public broadcaster NRK holds the top spot with its daily
podcasts similar to The Daily, along with digital-born outlets such
news podcast Oppdatert but faces competition from commercial
as elDiario. Younger journalists are also making an impact with
publishers. Three of the top ten podcasts come from Schibsted
hybrid audio/video shows. The Wild Project, an extended chat show
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
brands, including Forklart (Explained), produced by upmarket
presented by YouTuber Jordi Wild (11 million subscribers) covers
Aftenposten,
and Krimpodden, a true crime series from the tabloid
news, sports, science, and philosophy, with episodes lasting up to
Verdens Gang (VG).
Schibsted recently bought a podcast platform,
four and a half hours.
PodMe, while another large publisher, Amedia, has invested in a
podcast production company. Both have started to bundle
EMERGING NATIVE PODCASTS IN SPAIN ARE OFTEN ECLIPSED
podcasts with subscription products, with data suggesting that
BY RADIO OUTPUT
audio is particularly effective in building loyalty. NRK has also
started to restrict access from open platforms, encouraging more
of top podcasts are
people to consume via its NRK Radio app.
repurposed shows from
48%
public service and
commercial broadcasters
Deep dive
Deep dive
Extended
chat
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Graph 34
REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
52
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
TOP FIVE NEWS PODCASTS – NORWAY
Podcast name
1
Oppdatert
2
Forklart
3
Aftenpodden
4
Dagsnytt 18
5
Urix
Producer
Type
Avg. episode
length
15m
15m
1hr 15m
59m
30m
CONCLUSION
Categorising the variety of news podcasts across countries is a
complex and imperfect task, but it gives us some sense of the
relative state of news podcasting. In the United States, Australia,
the UK, and Nordic countries, we find that most consumption is of
high-quality ‘native’ podcasts, while elsewhere, repackaged radio
output tends to dominate and there is much less investment in
original content.
Across markets, ‘extended chat’ formats seem to attract most
audience attention and are attractive to publishers because they
are relatively cheap to produce. In a few countries, ‘deep dive’
podcasts – such as The Daily from the
New York Times
and
Genstart from Danish Radio – are attracting significant reach,
partly due to early mover advantage and/or sustained investment
– but these are very much exceptions. In most cases, attention is
highly fragmented, with a relatively small audience for any one
news podcast or publisher. This, in turn, makes podcasts hard to
monetise through direct advertising, especially in smaller
markets, leaving all but the biggest providers dependent on large
platforms such as Spotify or YouTube. In some English-language
markets, such as Canada and Ireland, domestic providers face
further competition for attention from better-resourced US or
UK podcasters. In this context, it is not surprising to see some
publishers focusing less on immediate financial return and more
on using podcasts as a way to attract younger audiences or
deepen relationships with subscribers.
NRK (public broadcaster) Deep dive
Aftenposten
Aftenposten
NRK
NRK
Deep dive
Extended chat
Extended chat
Deep dive
of named news
podcasts are
Norwegian, 15%
from other
countries
85%
of named news
podcasts are
from PSB
NRK
41%
Q2_Podcasts_2023.
You say that you
have listened to a news podcast in the
last month ... which news podcasts do you
listen to regularly?
Base: Those that listened
to a news podcast in the last month = 289.
Note: Open-ended question. Respondents
could type in up to three podcasts.
PLATFORM ACCESS FOR NEWS PODCASTS AND
THE RISE OF VIDEO PODCASTING
In larger countries, it is proving harder for publishers to compete
with tech platforms as they struggle to offer the comprehensive
range of content or the level of user experience desired by
consumers. One exception is BBC Sounds in the UK, which has a
similar reach to Spotify for podcasts, partly due to very strong
promotion via its other channels. Spotify may be pulling back from
some of its eyewatering investments in content
21
but has already
established itself as the dominant platform in most countries,
In most countries, public or commercial broadcasters continue to
but not in the United States, where YouTube is number one.
lead the way, but their market share is challenged by legacy print
This reflects the growing importance of video podcasts – partly due
organisations, digital-born outlets, alternative media, former
to the extra reach and revenue that YouTube provides, though also
comedians (e.g. Joe Rogan) and academics (e.g. Jordan Peterson).
because
INSTITUTE FOR THE
tends to be more effective in attracting
video promotion
STUDY OF JOURNALISM / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRAPHS
barriers to entry in podcasting have also enabled younger
Low
REUTERS
attention via social media. In the United States, cable talk shows
voices to be heard, bringing a fresh, more informal tone, and often
are routinely repackaged as podcasts, while the BBC’s Newscast
adding video to the mix.
is now filmed for television and digital distribution.
Our data capture the vibrancy of the podcasting scene across
countries, but current levels of audience growth are unlikely to
PROPORTION OF PODCAST LISTENERS THAT USE EACH
match the amount of content now being produced, let alone the new
PLATFORM FOR PODCASTS – SELECTED COUNTRIES
shows in the pipeline. In this context, it is vital that news podcasts
USA
UK
stand out – with high-quality content, strong formats, and engaging
31
33
YouTube*
Spotify*
hosts still being the most important ingredients for success.
Graph 35
Spotify*
24
BBC Sounds
YouTube*
31
Apple podcasts
Google podcasts
Pandora
NPR website/app
8
Audible
Australia
Spotify*
YouTube*
Apple podcasts
ABC Listen
Google podcasts
Audible
Pandora
0%
23
14
14
7
0%
50%
Apple podcasts
Google podcasts
Audible
Other site/app
Germany
34
Spotify*
YouTube*
ARD Audiothek
Google podcasts
Apple podcasts
Audible
Other site/app
50%
20
15
7
6
5
0%
50%
25
22
14
11
11
10
7
0%
50%
28
25
22
16
12
10
Public service broadcaster
*only if you use for podcasts
POD2.
Which of the following apps or websites do you mainly use to find and play podcasts?
Please select all that apply.
Base: Those that listened to a podcast in the last month in USA = 891,
UK = 607, Australia = 773, Germany = 574.
21
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/06/spotify-cancels-11-original-podcasts-lays-off-under-5-of-staff/
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
SECTION 3
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55
SECTION 3
Analysis by Country and Market
In this section we publish a
market-based
view of the findings, which includes an overview of the most
important data points in terms of news.
These include an overview of consumption in each market, including
details of the most popular news brands – traditional and online.
The pages also contain statistics about the different sources of news
over time, the role of different social networks, and levels of payment
for online news. Information is drawn from the 2023 Digital News
Report survey using the methodology outlined on page 6, with the
exception of population and internet levels which are drawn from
the latest edition of
Internet World Statistics
22
and press freedom
scores from Reporters Without Borders.
23
Data from India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are representative
of younger English speakers rather than the national population.
The survey was fielded in English in these markets (respondents
had the option of selecting Hindi in India and Swahili in Kenya,
but the majority selected English), and restricted to ages 18 to
50 in Kenya and Nigeria. In some other markets, where internet
penetration is lower, our data often represent younger and more
affluent groups – even if they meet other nationally representative
quotas. For all these reasons, one should be cautious in comparing
some data points across markets where we know these limitations
apply (see methodology). In a few markets we do not ask certain
questions (such as on paying for news and podcasts) because
we feel these could lead to misunderstandings or misleading
comparisons. We have also signalled important details about
samples in a short note on the country page, where relevant.
We have ordered the countries and markets by geography
(Europe, Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Africa) and within each
region countries are then ordered alphabetically – with the
exception of UK at the start of the Europe section and the
United States at the start of the Americas.
We have not published data on devices this year, because after
trialling a new question we felt the data in some countries were
flawed. We continue to try to provide the most accurate data
possible and will reintroduce device data in 2024.
EUROPE
3.01
United Kingdom 58
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
100
102
104
3.02 Austria
3.03 Belgium
3.04 Bulgaria
3.05 Croatia
3.06 Czech Republic
3.07 Denmark
3.08 Finland
3.09 France
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
3.19
3.21
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Spain
AMERICAS
3.25 United States
3.26 Argentina
3.27 Brazil
3.28 Canada
3.29 Chile
3.30 Colombia
3.31
Mexico
3.32 Peru
ASIA-PACIFIC
3.33 Australia
3.34 Hong Kong
3.35 India
3.36 Indonesia
3.37 Japan
3.38 Malaysia
3.39 Philippines
3.40 Singapore
3.41
South Korea
3.42 Taiwan
3.43 Thailand
AFRICA
3.44 Kenya
3.45 Nigeria
3.46 South Africa
150
152
154
126
128
130
132
134
136
138
140
142
144
146
108
110
112
114
116
118
120
122
3.20 Slovakia
3.22 Sweden
3.23 Switzerland
3.24 Turkey
22
23
https:/
/www.internetworldstats.com/
https:/
/rsf.org/
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SECTION 3
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57
SECTION 3
Analysis by Country and Market
Europe
EUROPE
3.01
United Kingdom 58
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.18
3.19
3.21
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Spain
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
100
102
104
3.02 Austria
3.03 Belgium
3.04 Bulgaria
3.05 Croatia
3.06 Czech Republic
3.07 Denmark
3.08 Finland
3.09 France
3.10
3.11
3.12
Germany
Greece
Hungary
3.20 Slovakia
3.22 Sweden
3.23 Switzerland
3.24 Turkey
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
69m
95%
UNITED KINGDOM
The UK media scene is characterised by strong public and commercial
broadcasters and a competitive and outspoken national press. But both
sectors are under pressure from changing audience behaviour, falling
revenue, and rising costs. The BBC’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s
death was mostly sure-footed, but the corporation has been faced
by rows over service cuts and impartiality.
The Queen’s death and its aftermath
proved a potential minefield for the BBC
in a country where the majority support
the monarchy but where its role is being
questioned by a new, less deferential
generation.
24
But the BBC’s coverage
on the day was mostly praised by
government ministers and media critics,
and watched by more than 22m in the UK
via the BBC’s television and streaming
services. National newspapers also saw
a temporary uplift in sales around royal
events including the slimmed-down
coronation of King Charles. But relations
between the media and some members
of the royal family remain difficult
following a history of intrusion and
underhand practices – and more recent
accusations by the Duke and Duchess
of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) that
the press contributed to driving them
out of the UK. Prince Harry is among
a number of high-profile figures suing
both the Mirror Group and Associated
Newspapers, owners of the
Mail
and
Mail
on Sunday,
over allegations that they
were the victims of phone-hacking and
other privacy breaches.
Newspaper groups continue to suffer
from the economic downturn with the
loss of hundreds of jobs. Print circulation
for the biggest paid-for national titles is
down by between 8% (the
i
newspaper)
and 23% (the
Sunday People),
with daily
local newspapers down 19% year-on-
year. Reach plc (owners of the
Daily
Mirror, Express,
and
Star,
along with
around 200 local titles) announced
more content sharing between its
national titles and further cuts in its local
operations after profits fell by 27%, hit
by multiple factors including a £25m rise
in print costs. Free city newspapers such
as
Metro
and the
Standard,
which are
distributed at major transport hubs, have
been affected by the recent switch to
home working – the latter lost 30% of
its circulation in the last year.
25
Some national newspapers are responding
to these pressures by continuing to place
a greater focus on membership and
subscription-based business models,
albeit within a market with a relatively low
rate of paying for news online (9%).
The
Times
and
Sunday Times,
part of Rupert
Murdoch’s newspaper stable, doubled
profits to £73.2m, with 438,000 digital-only
subscribers. New editorial leadership saw
Tony Gallagher take over at
The Times
and
Ben Taylor at the
Sunday Times,
with Emma
Tucker moving to the Murdoch-owned
Wall
Street Journal
in New York. The
Telegraph,
which is pursuing a subscription-first
strategy, reached 586,867 paying readers in
December 2022 while the
Guardian
has over
1 million recurring digital supporters.
A series of award-winning scoops from the
Daily Mirror
and ITV News about the extent
of lockdown parties in Downing Street, in
contravention of the government’s own
COVID rules, contributed to the downfall of
Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He lost the
confidence of his own MPs after accusations
that he repeatedly misled the House of
Commons over this and other issues. Later,
ITV News turned the story into a true crime
style podcast series, Partygate: The Inside
Story, part of a wider industry trend.
Political chaos has also affected media
policy, with multiple changes of Culture
Secretary, further delays to the Online
Safety Bill, and the watering down of its
social media take-down provisions, after
extensive lobbying and concerns about
free speech. A controversial proposal
to privatise Channel 4 has been quietly
dropped under Rishi Sunak’s government
after industry opposition.
Meanwhile, at the BBC high inflation and
soaring costs have led to the need to save
£500m annually after last year’s cash-flat
licence fee settlement. This has led to
merging the previously separate domestic
and world-focused TV news channels, with
a net loss of 50 jobs. At BBC World Service,
hundreds of jobs are also going, along with
radio output in ten languages, including
Arabic.
Perceptions of the BBC’s independence
from government took a knock after it
emerged that Chairman Richard Sharp
had played a role in helping Boris Johnson’s
personal finances at the same time as
he was seeking to secure the BBC job.
Sharp was eventually forced to resign but
critics unfavourably contrasted a lack of
accountability for a friend of the Prime
Minister with the treatment of popular
sport presenter Gary Lineker who was
suspended over his use of social media to
criticise government refugee policy. After
a public outcry, Lineker was reinstated
and the BBC is to look again at impartiality
guidelines for non-news staff and freelances
when it comes to personal and official social
media accounts.
Nic Newman
Senior Research Associate, Reuters Institute
24
25
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65326467
https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/media_metrics/most-popular-newspapers-uk-abc-monthly-circulation-figures-2/
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
BBC News (TV & radio)
ITV News
Sky News (24-hour news)
Channel 4 News
Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday
Commercial radio news
Regional or local newspaper
6
GB News (24-hour news)
6
Metro (free paper)
6
Guardian/Observer
The Times/Sunday Times
Sun/Sun on Sunday
Daily Mirror/Sunday Mirror
Daily Telegraph/Sunday Telegraph
The ‘i’ newspaper
Channel 5 News
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
4
3
3
3
3
3
BBC TV News:
44%
BBC Radio News:
19%
9
9
8
15
24
51
Digital News Report 2023 | United Kingdom
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
59
BBC News online
Guardian online
MailOnline
Sky News online
Regional or local newspaper online
MSN News
Yahoo! News
Sun online
Mirror online
Hu Post
ITV News online
The Lad Bible news
Independent/ i100 online
Metro online
The Times online
Telegraph online
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
8
16
14
12
45
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Audiences for traditional news sources like TV and
print have fallen significantly over the last decade,
with younger groups preferring to get their news
online or via social media. News consumption has
remained broadly stable in the last 12 months, with
the exception of newspapers (-3pp).
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
79%
74%
59%
50%
74%
52%
38%
9%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
30%
20%
0%
14%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
BBC News
Channel 4 News
Daily Mail/MailOnline
Daily Mirror
Daily Telegraph
Financial Times
GB News
Guardian
Independent
ITV News
Regional or local newspaper
Sky News
Sun
TalkTV
The Times
Trust
61%
59%
25%
23%
41%
57%
28%
51%
46%
58%
53%
51%
13%
20%
48%
Neither Don’t Trust
17%
26%
24%
28%
32%
29%
31%
27%
35%
26%
30%
27%
21%
43%
31%
21%
15%
51%
48%
27%
14%
41%
22%
20%
16%
17%
21%
66%
37%
22%
Public broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4, and ITV that are required to meet
strict impartiality standards remain the most trusted news brands. Along with
national broadsheet titles, all of these increased their trust levels in the last year –
perhaps reflecting the less confrontational nature of politics after the resignation of
Boris Johnson. More opinionated and tabloid outlets tend to have lower trust levels
in our survey.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
50%
51%
33%
33%
26
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=33/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
78.51
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
20%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
Twitter
3
YouTube
4
WhatsApp
5
Instagram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
17% (-2)
13%
(-)
10% (+1)
59%
27%
54%
9%
6%
(-1)
(-)
(-1)
65%
36%
40%
6
Facebook Messenger 3%
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
9.1m
88%
AUSTRIA
The last year has been marked by several incidents indicating
undue interference by politicians into news media, along with
new policy measures to increase support to the industry and
improve transparency over public sector advertising contracts.
In 2022, evidence of murky relationships
between politicians and news media
leaders emerged. Matthias Schrom, the
Head of TV News at the public service
media ORF, resigned after the Corruption
Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) released
WhatsApp chats demonstrating his
willingness to accommodate complaints
from former Vice Chancellor Strache
about unfavourable coverage. Around the
same time, an investigation into alleged
bribery and corruption involving Thomas
Schmid, a former Austrian People’s Party
(ÖVP) top official in the Finance Ministry,
revealed conversations with Rainer Nowak,
the former editor-in-chief, publisher, and
managing director of the newspaper
Die
Presse.
In these conversations, Schmid
expressed gratitude and support for
Nowak’s ambitions to become ORF’s
Director General.
In the event, the ORF appointed a different
Director General, Roland Weißmann,
viewed by critics as a highly politicised
choice, although the governing parties
are entitled to appoint the majority of
the board, who then appoint the director.
ORF’s funding system is set to be changed
by January 2024, following a decision by
the constitutional court. The current TV
licence fee, based on the presence of a TV
or radio set in a household, will be replaced
by a household levy similar to the German
and Swiss models. Additionally, ORF has
to cut costs, by €300m, before 2026.
The government has also been reviewing its
wider media policy as it applies to the press.
After recent scandals, there are new rules
aiming at increasing transparency about
how advertising by public institutions
(worth €225m in 2021) is allocated to
different publishers, following suggestions
that political parties and leaders can
influence coverage by leveraging
advertising spend. Politicians’ constant
attempts at influencing the press were
cited in the 2023 Press Freedom Index
from RSF, where Austria was ranked 29th,
far from the 11th place it had in 2018.
The media policy package supplements
existing subsidies of around €8m pa with
an extra €20–25m pa aimed at supporting
quality journalism, linked to factors such
as the number of journalists and foreign
correspondents, and effective gender
equality plans. The package also seeks to
promote content diversity by supporting
greater reporting of regional events,
along with EU and international topics.
A new subsidy of €70m was created for
digital transformation projects at news
companies. The scheme may continue,
although the amount of future funding
remains unclear.
Austria still has a high level of readership
of print (40% in our survey) but as print
declines, some brands are placing their
hopes on digital subscriptions. A minority
(14%) of our survey respondents report
paying for news online, with the main titles
mentioned being
Die Presse, Kronen Zeitung,
and
Der Standard.
Data from the Austrian
Circulation Control (ÖAK) office show
Die Presse
with nearly 60,000 subscribers,
of which just over 40% are digital,
Kronen
Zeitung
with 523,000 subscribers, 6% of
which are digital, and
Der Standard
with
46,000 subscribers, of which 24% are
digital. However, among our respondents
paying for online news, 30% say they get
a reduced or free rate.
The overall picture for newspapers is
difficult, faced with rising paper and energy
costs and a 5% drop in 2022 in subscription
sales for the top ten dailies. The impact
was evident in April 2023, when two
prominent cases of struggling newspapers
emerged:
Kurier
announced the layoff of
about 10% of its 200 staff, while
Kleine
Zeitung
offered voluntary redundancy to all
editorial staff.
26
Red Bull, which owns the television
channel Servus TV, ranked third for weekly
use in our survey, is now estimated to have
a brand value of nearly €6 billion, making
it the most valuable brand in Austria.
However, the company lost its founder and
main owner when Dietrich Mateschitz died
in October 2022.
An April 2022 Gallup survey of 1,000
respondents found that, while 63% had
a very or quite high-level trust in Austrian
media’s reporting on the war in Ukraine,
only 45% considered it independent of the
government’s position; with 31% either
not trusting (14%) or sceptical (17%) of
the reporting. Reporting of COVID-19 has
also been contentious, with similar levels
of distrust both of the vaccine and the
reporting. One right-leaning digital-born
site wochenblick.at was criticised by the
Press Council for multiple ethics violations
in its reporting on COVID-19, including
an article arguing that the immune
systems of billions of people were at risk
from the vaccines.
Sergio Sparviero
and
Josef Trappel,
with
additional research by
Stefan Gadringer
and
Pauline Reichenberger
University of Salzburg
26
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000145455253/kurier-verlag-streicht-20-jobs-redaktion-kritisiert-strukturelle-versaeumnisse
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
ORF News (public broadcaster)
Kronen Zeitung
ServusTV News
Heute
ZDF News (Germany)
Puls 4 News
Bezirksblätter
Puls 24
oe24 TV
Kleine Zeitung
ARD News (Germany)
Österreich
KroneHit
ATV
Der Standard
Kurier
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
16
15
14
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
12
11
ORF TV News:
49%
ORF Radio News:
44%
22
17
33
66
Digital News Report 2023 | Austria
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
ORF News online
Kronen Zeitung online
Der Standard online
Heute online
GMX
12
12
11
11
10
8
8
8
15
24
19
33
61
meinbezirk.at/woche.at/bezirksrundschau.at
Kurier online
oe24.at (österreich.at, sport.oe24.at, buzz.oe24.at)
Kleine Zeitung online
Puls24 online
KroneHit online
Die Presse online
OÖ Nachrichten online
6
Tagesschau (ARD News online)
6
MSN News
Tiroler Tageszeitung online
5
5
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Austrians still have one of highest rates of daily
newspaper readership in the world, but the
proportion accessing weekly has fallen by 30pp
since 2015. TV audiences are also down significantly,
particularly with younger people.
100%
78%
71%
70%
50%
70%
59%
14%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
34%
38%
40%
39%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
ATV News
Der Standard
Die Presse
Heute
Trust
40%
58%
56%
31%
45%
43%
49%
40%
35%
46%
61%
45%
53%
51%
52%
Neither Don’t Trust
27%
18%
21%
22%
27%
20%
23%
29%
23%
27%
16%
26%
26%
25%
20%
33%
24%
24%
47%
28%
38%
28%
30%
42%
27%
24%
29%
21%
24%
28%
Trust in media has seen an 8pp drop since the 2021 COVID-19 peak, probably hit by the
recent scandals involving politicians and prominent media personalities. But this only
brings trust levels back close to the 2019 figure. Trust levels by brand are very similar to
last year, with public broadcaster ORF News the most trusted brand, closely followed by
Der Standard
and
Die Presse.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Kleine Zeitung
Kronen Zeitung
Kurier
NEWS
oe24
OÖ News
ORF News
Puls 4 News
Regional or local newspaper
Salzburger News
Servus TV News
50%
48%
38%
38%
29
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=24/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
77.3
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
25%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Instagram
5
TikTok
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
24% (-3)
21% (-1)
20% (-4)
52%
59%
72%
13% (-2)
6% (+2)
5%
(-)
35%
15%
11%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0062.png
62
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
11.7m
92%
BELGIUM
Belgium has two distinct media markets: French-speaking Wallonia
and Flemish-speaking Flanders. Publishers’ pivot to digital
subscriptions seems to be paying off, even if online audience growth
and paying for news may have hit their peak.
In Belgium, the slowing interest in news
after the COVID-19 bump persists. The
constant need for information about the
energy crisis and war in Ukraine is less
acute than during the pandemic. Industry
figures from the Centre of Information on
the Media (CIM) show, taking newspapers’
combined audience across print and
digital together, that their audience
declined by 2.7%. The picture differs by
region. In Flanders, all newspaper brands
except
De Tijd
see their combined reach
decline. In Wallonia, ‘quality’ newspapers,
particularly
La Libre, Le Soir,
and
L’Echo,
are on the rise – although this is likely
to be caused by a better representation
of respondents from Brussels in CIM’s
updated methodology. Overall, however,
we are simply seeing combined online
and offline reach for newspaper and
news magazine brands returning to
pre-COVID levels.
27
Surprisingly, this drop in readership has
not led to a fall in turnover. Major media
groups like Mediahuis, DPG Media, and
Roularta remain profitable in the face
of challenges. Mediahuis, for example,
had slowing subscription growth and
increasing costs last year, but still managed
to increase turnover due to its expansion
strategy; more foreign acquisitions, sharing
back-office costs across subsidiaries, and
increased subscription income meant a
reduced but healthy profit margin. Clearly,
relying on higher subscription revenues
alone is not enough, and might not be
in the future as, according to this year’s
Digital News Report
data, paying for news
is declining slightly – with 16% of Flemish
and 14% of Wallonian news users paying
for news in the last year, down from 18%
in both regions in 2022. The top brands
Digital News Report survey respondents
mention paying for online are
Het Laatste
Nieuws, Le Soir,
and
De Morgen.
News organisations are also responding to
the popularity of Instagram and TikTok by
starting their own channels. VRT and HLN
led the way last year, and now the ‘quality’
news brand
De Standaard
has entered the
TikTok arena. The challenge is that, unlike
Facebook, these platforms do not send
traffic direct to news sites, so it is unclear
how this bet will turn out. The same is true
for podcasts. At a time when our survey
shows podcast use for news stagnating
in Belgium, some key news brands are
arriving late to the podcast party.
De Tijd
and VRT with their respective daily current
affairs podcasts De 7 and Het Kwartier
are just a couple of striking examples.
Meanwhile, the Flemish government is
taking steps to support digitalisation,
with its innovative use of EU COVID
recovery funding to grant €35m to make
the Flemish media sector more resistant
to big tech. Project calls cover the better
use of data, combating disinformation,
and transforming local broadcasters.
28
One planned project is a partnership
between the CIM and multiple media
companies for a cross-media audience
metrics system.
These forms of digital support coincide
with questioning of the much larger print
subsidies. After years of criticism led
by online-only news organisations, the
government has commissioned an audit of
its support scheme for the distribution of
printed newspapers. This follows a scandal
about the awarding of these contracts.
The government’s recent decision to cut
this print subsidy from €170m to €120m
demonstrates that the policy has passed
its sell-by date.
While new support schemes aim to
secure the future of the media sector in a
‘post-truth’ and ‘fiercely digital’ world,
several newsrooms are under pressure.
French-language public broadcaster RTBF
itself hit the headlines in February 2023
after a former RTBF journalist took his life.
The event triggered an outcry with
employees and journalism organisations
denouncing management for an uncaring
push to digital first. This coincided with
results from an independent study
reporting that 38% of RTBF’s employees
said they were completely exhausted.
29
Similar stories emerged at the news
division of Flemish public broadcaster VRT
NWS, where journalists asked for more
attention to wellbeing at work, a reduced
workload, and increased resources.
Ike Picone
Associate Professor of Journalism and Media
Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
27
28
29
P. Laloux, ‘Le Belge lit moins de journaux, sauf “Le Soir”’,
Le Soir,
13 Oct. 2022.
Department of Culture, Youth and Media of the Flemish Government. https://www.vlaanderen.be/cjm/nl/nieuws/35-miljoen-voor-relanceplan-mediasector
J. Baloni, ‘La grande fatigue de la RTBF après le suicide d’un journaliste’,
L’Echo,
18 Feb. 2023.
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0063.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Digital News Report 2023 | Belgium
63
Axis Line on both layers:
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
Rounded ends
90% CMYK Black
90%
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
(FLEMISH SPEAKING)
CMYK Black
ONLINE
(FLEMISH SPEAKING)
VTM
Eén (VRT)
Het Laatste Nieuws
Radio 2 (VRT)
Qmusic
Het Nieuwsblad
Canvas
MNM (VRT)
Radio 1 (VRT)
Joe FM
Studio Brussel (VRT)
Nostalgie
20
18
15
14
13
12
12
11
8
27
37
34
Het Laatste Nieuws online
VRT NWS online
Het Nieuwsblad online
De Standaard online
Gazet van Antwerpen online
Het Belang van Limburg onine
De Morgen online
MSN News
10
9
8
7
7
25
35
48
NWS online
6
De Tijd online
6
BBC News online
Regional or local newspaper online
4
4
15%
VRT (Public
Axis Line on both layers:
broadcaster) total reach:
60%
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
Rounded ends
90% CMYK Black
90%
ONLINE
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
(FRENCH SPEAKING)
CMYK Black
La Une (RTBF)
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro
RTL News
Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
TF1 (France)
90% CMYK Black
Vivacité (RTBF)
Bel-RTL
Le Soir
Radio Contact
L’Avenir
La Première
France Télévisions (France 2, France 3)
Tipik (RTBF)
Metro
Numbers:
12
44
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
44
14
RTL Info
Text:
Tisa SansLe Soir online
Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
RTBF News online
90% CMYK Black
La DH online
L'Avenir online
7sur7
MSN News
La Libre online
Regional or local news online
L’Echo online
LN24
Euronews
25
25
20
17
16
13
12
9
9
7
7
(FRENCH SPEAKING)
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
34
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
Flemish 16% | French 14%
11
26
6
19
8
18
9
16
6
14
7
13
6
12
6
12
6
12
8
12
27%
TRUST
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
Flemish 27% | French 28%
RTBF (Public broadcaster) total reach:
64%
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
Text:
100%
The COVID-19 trust bump has now completely
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
evaporated, with overall trust in news back to its
90% CMYK Black
pre-pandemic levels. Flemish-speaking Flanders (51%)
and French-speaking Wallonia (36%) continue to
50%
feature a significant trust gap. In both markets, the
respective public broadcasters VRT and RTBF remain
the most trusted news sources, even though various
commercial organisations feature similarly high
0%
trust scores.
82%
75%
46%
45%
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
Online (incl. social media)
TV
Numbers:
Social media
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Print
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
76%
58%
43%
25%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST IN NEWS 2016–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey so it should not be treated as a list
of the most or least trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
FLEMISH
50%
51%
Brand
FRENCH
Trust Neither Don’t
Trust
65%
70%
69%
62%
62%
64%
66%
60%
64%
62%
72%
71%
67%
76%
71%
25%
22%
23%
26%
27%
22%
23%
28%
24%
26%
20%
20%
23%
16%
18%
10%
7%
9%
11%
11%
14%
11%
12%
11%
12%
9%
9%
10%
9%
11%
Brand
7sur7
Bel-RTL
France 2
La Dernière Heure
La Libre
La Première
L'Avenir
Le Soir
Metro
Radio Contact
Regional or local
newspaper
RTBF News
RTL
TF1
Vivacité
Trust Neither Don’t
Trust
45%
57%
57%
52%
56%
60%
53%
63%
45%
49%
55%
68%
60%
58%
58%
37%
27%
30%
32%
32%
28%
35%
27%
41%
34%
32%
20%
22%
26%
30%
17%
16%
13%
16%
12%
11%
13%
11%
15%
16%
14%
12%
18%
16%
12%
44%
13/46 markets
0%
44%
De Morgen
De Standaard
De Tijd
Gazet van Antwerpen
Het Belang van Limburg
Het Laatste Nieuws
Het Nieuwsblad
Joe FM
Knack
Flemish 51%
2016
2023
French 36%
Note: Not all country pages have the same range of
the time’
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of
years. Some may start later than others.
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Instagram
5
Facebook Messenger
6
TikTok
For News
For All
Qmusic
Radio 1
Radio 2
Regional or local
newspaper
VRT Nieuws
VTM Nieuws
38%
17%
15%
(-1)
(-2)
(-1)
70%
54%
58%
41%
54%
18%
14% (+2)
12%
7%
(-2)
(+1)
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following brands is? Please use the scale below,
where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and 10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6-10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0-4 coded as ‘Don’t Trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand were excluded. Whether respondents
consider a brand trustworthy is their subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not an
objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
76.47
31
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0064.png
64
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
6.9m
70%
BULGARIA
The election of the centrist pro-Western government of Kiril Petkov’s
‘We continue the Change’ party in November 2021 had seemed to
herald a definitive end to the often corrupt 12-year rule of authoritarian
Boyko Borisov. But the Ukraine war has polarised politics between
pro-Western and pro-Russian groups.
Petkov’s government collapsed after less
than eight months and was succeeded by
multiple caretaker governments. In the
2 April elections – the fifth in two years
– Borisov’s centre-right party emerged
ahead of the pro-Western coalition
and he may be set to return to power.
Bulgaria has been an EU member for over
15 years but remains among the poorest
and most corrupt countries in the Union
and the Ukraine war has exacerbated
the sometimes ambivalent relations
between the two.
As the EU became more hostile to Russia
and vocal in its support for Ukraine,
pro-Russian elements in Bulgaria voiced
their concerns. The Ukraine war and
successive election campaigns have
also fuelled internal divisions. Young
and urban Bulgarians have reaffirmed
their pro-Western stance and demanded
increased Bulgarian support for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian sentiment
among largely elderly and rural
Bulgarians has deepened.
Economically, Bulgaria is unusual in
the EU in having benefited from the
war – with 3% growth in 2022. Growth
has largely been driven by massive arms
sales for Ukraine – but initially this was
not officially acknowledged – and the
weapons and Soviet-era ammunition
were sold via intermediaries in Poland
and Romania rather than being sent
direct to Ukraine.
30
Economic growth has not addressed
the long-standing fragility of the media
sector, now made worse by increased
paper costs. Over the past year, a couple
of smaller newspapers have closed,
unable to adapt to digital. Most domestic
media feel the need to stay close to
power. The public broadcasters BNR
and BNT had long been accustomed to
doing so. Commercial firms often want to
secure state-supported advertising.
The two leading offline brands, NovaTV
and BTV, are foreign owned by United
Group and Central European Media
Enterprises (CME) respectively. Nova
has benefited from the greater editorial
independence made possible by
foreign ownership while BTV prioritises
maintaining good relations with
whichever government is in power.
RSF reports that investigative journalists
are regularly victims of abusive legal
procedures, and corporate pressures
persist. A recent court case brought by
a major insurance company against
the site Mediapool.bg claimed record
damages for an article criticising its
business practices. The €510,000 sought
– more than double the firm’s annual
revenue – is likely to deter others from
similar investigations.
Most media outlets have adopted largely
pro-EU and pro-Western positions in the
past year. But polls suggest that public
opinion is quite balanced. Whereas an
autumn 2022 Eurobarometer poll found
that 74% of all EU citizens approved of
EU support for Ukraine, in Bulgaria the
figure was only 48%, placing the country
equal lowest with Greece. Opinion on
Bulgaria joining the euro seems quite
volatile. In April 2021 Eurobarometer
recorded 54% in favour and 44% against
but this had switched to 44% in favour
and 54% against by April 2022. A more
recent November 2022 poll on the issue
31
for the Ministry of Finance showed
Bulgarians polarised, with support from
33% of the population (compared with
two-thirds of businesses) and opposed by
50%, but the policy is supported by most
media and will be accompanied by a €5m
government advertising campaign.
Bulgarians seem reluctant to pay for
online news. But there are plenty of other
digital innovations. Legacy media have
recognised the interest from viewers and
advertisers in user-generated content
created by YouTubers, podcasters, and
TikTokers and several newspapers,
news sites, and radio stations are
playing catch-up, launching their own
virtual studios. The most significant
digital moves are from TV stations.
BTV launched podcasts hosted by
its most popular journalists together
with a business news platform. Nova
is developing its own platform Vbox7
– a Bulgarian alternative to YouTube
– providing a platform and tools for
multiple individual creators and then
selling advertisements against the
content and traffic they generate.
Direct messaging social media networks
such as Viber and Telegram have been
growing in popularity, in part because
they facilitate avoiding legal restrictions
or Facebook’s community standards.
For example, while it is illegal in Bulgaria
to publish exit poll results on election
day, communicating them via direct
messaging is allowed. But many have
also voiced concerns about the role of
social media – as the preferred Russian
medium for influence – in the spread
of disinformation in Bulgaria.
32
Stefan Antonov
Business Journalist and former Reuters
Institute Journalist Fellow
30
31
32
https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/guns-and-roses-bulgaria-arms-trade-booms-on-ukraine-war/
https://sofiaglobe.com/2022/12/19/bulgarians-polarised-about-euro-adoption-alpha-research-poll/
https://www.politico.eu/article/bulgaria-ukraine-russia-war-nato-fault/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0065.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
NovaTV News
BTV News
37
27
23
16
14
13
12
10
9
8
8
7
5
61
59
Digital News Report 2023 | Bulgaria
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
BTV News online
Nova TV News online
ABV News online
novini.bg
24 Chasa online
BNT News online
dir.bg
Petel.bg
Dnevnik online
Blitz.bg
Trud online
BNR News online
Darik
Bulgaria ON AIR online
Capital online
Maritza online
17
14
14
14
13
11
10
10
10
9
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
65
42
41
32
30
27
23
BNT News (Bulgarian National Television)
Nova News
24 Chasa
Telegraf
Bulgaria ON AIR
BNR News (Bulgarian National Radio)
Trud
Darik Radio
Euronews Bulgaria
Regional or local newspaper
Capital
Standart
Maritza
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
TV 7/8
6
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2018–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
We introduced education quotas for the first time
in Bulgaria as part of our efforts to make data as
representative as possible of national populations.
As a result, 2023 data will be more accurate but not
always directly comparable with previous years.
100%
88%
84%
72%
76%
63%
61%
50%
11%
TRUST
23%
12%
0%
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
24 Chasa
ABV News
Bivol
BTV News
Trust
44%
38%
40%
53%
59%
59%
43%
53%
40%
42%
50%
56%
47%
44%
42%
Neither Don’t Trust
30%
35%
29%
21%
23%
21%
28%
26%
32%
31%
29%
22%
31%
30%
30%
26%
27%
30%
26%
18%
20%
28%
20%
28%
27%
21%
23%
22%
26%
28%
Overall trust in news is low, with Bulgaria now equal 41st out of 46 markets. TV and
radio brands – including both the public service and top two commercial stations –
are the most trusted. Euronews Bulgaria TV was surveyed for the first time this year
and its high-quality journalism and brand value may explain its relatively high trust
rating (50%).
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2018–23
100%
Bulgarian National Radio
Bulgarian National Television
Capital
Darik
Dir
Dnevnik
Euronews Bulgaria
Nova TV News
Novini
Regional or local newspaper
Trud
50%
38%
28%
2018
2023
28%
71
/ 180
0%
=41/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
62.98
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
35%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Viber
4
Facebook Messenger 18% (+1)
5
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
64% (-5)
31% (-3)
21% (+3)
77%
64%
60%
56%
35%
30%
13%
(-)
12% (+4)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0066.png
66
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
4m
93%
CROATIA
The Russian invasion of Ukraine was the most important news topic
in 2022 and early 2023. But COVID-19’s impact is reflected in a turn to
entertainment programmes, with some uptick in advertising revenues
but with most growth going to online. The structure of the news
industry remains largely the same – with offline use dominated by two
foreign-owned TV news channels together with the public broadcaster.
Croatian publishers are continuing to
suffer from the impact of COVID, given
their heavy reliance on advertising. While
the overall advertising market saw some
increase in the past year, up from €200m
in 2021 to €239m in 2022, €110m went
to online advertising with 21% growth
in 2022 and a forecast of a further 12%
increase in 2023. The largest share
(41%) was display advertising, with 30%
going to social networks (Facebook and
Instagram account for over 90%) and
20% to search engines.
33
In terms of the
division between media outlets, TV holds
the lion’s share of advertising while print
continues to decline.
34
The proportion
of our survey respondents paying for
online news remains persistently low
at 8%, so it seems increased efforts to
increase subscriptions have not been
very successful.
The major commercial TV companies
have been foreign-owned for over
two decades, with the United Group
operating the cable news channel N1
and the top ranked free-to-air station,
Nova. Meanwhile the Czech-based
CME has owned RTL TV for the past
year. When it comes to print, Austrian
and German companies dominate the
market. The tabloid
24 Sata
owned
by the Austria Styria group is the best-
selling newspaper and also attracts
large numbers of people online.
The public broadcaster HRT has stable
and independent financing through a
compulsory licence fee, but also has
some advertising income. However, the
recent annual report to parliament by
the newly appointed Director General
of HRT highlighted the need to focus on
cutting costs to secure the company’s
future viability. While HRT claims it is
editorially independent as required by
law, it is less trusted than the leading
commercial operators, and many
industry and academic experts highlight
its continuing pro-government bias.
The past year saw increased competition
for prime-time news audiences between
the three national TV channels since they
all now broadcast their main evening
news at 19.00. According to the routine
monitoring figures from the regulator,
the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM),
while NovaTV news took the lead in the
first week of the change, HTV evening
news was among the ten most watched
programmes in February 2023. HTV 1
had the largest all-day audience during
February (18.1%), followed by two
foreign-owned commercial stations,
NovaTV (14.5%) and RTL TV (14%).
In prime time the order is reversed
with RTL TV in the lead.
There are though some signs of a
weariness with news in the past year.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine revived
memories of the trauma of Croatia’s
battle to break from Yugoslavia in
the 1990s, and following COVID and
now Ukraine there may be a turn to
entertainment. The most watched
television programme in February
2023 was the Croatian Eurovision Song
Contest competition, and the past year
was marked by the Croatian football
team’s bronze medal in the World Cup.
Journalism continues to be a difficult
profession in Croatia and the economic
pressures imposed by the pandemic
on the news industry only added to
the lack of job security faced by many.
While physical attacks on journalists
are unusual, threats and verbal attacks
continue, especially against those with
opposition or liberal viewpoints as well
as investigative journalists. According
to the Croatian Journalists Association,
there were more than 900 lawsuits for
damages to reputation or honour still
active in the past year and these add to
the pressures on freedom of expression.
35
Even if most of those eventually fail
in court this can take years. And since
large amounts of damages are usually
sought against individual journalists
or the publishers (often online portals)
they have a chilling effect on freedom
of expression and contribute to self-
censorship.
Following widespread coverage of
corruption cases linked to governing
party HDZ officials, the government
plans a clampdown on leaks to
journalists. The measure would target
leaks by officials to the media of similar
content from high-profile corruption
investigations. Unsurprisingly, the plans
have been met with protests from the
public and journalists.
Zrinjka Peruško
Centre for Media and Communication
Research, University of Zagreb
33
34
35
https://seenews.com/news/online-media-adex-in-croatia-to-rise-12-in-2023-research-817514
https://hura.hr/istrazivanja/medijska-potrosnja-u-hr/
https://www.hnd.hr/zovko-slapp-tuzbe-su-novi-oblik-zlostavljanja-novinara
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
NovaTV News
HTV & HR News (public broadcaster)
RTL News
24sata
Jutarnji list
Otvoreni radio
Večernji list
Narodni radio
Local radio news
N1
Slobodna Dalmacija
Antena radio
Local television news
City paper
Al-Jazeera
19
17
15
14
13
10
10
9
8
7
7
31
44
50
46
Digital News Report 2023 | Croatia
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Index.hr
24sata online
Dnevnik online
Jutarnji online
Net.hr
Tportal.hr
Večernji online
Dnevno.hr
RTL News online
Slobodna Dalmacija online
Telegram.hr
19
18
16
16
15
11
11
8
8
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
67
51
46
34
32
32
28
25
HRT News online (incl. HRTi) (public broadcaster)
Direktno.hr
Local radio news online
N1 online
Novilist.hr
Regional or local newspaper
6
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
We introduced education quotas for the first time
in Croatia as part of our efforts to make data as
representative as possible of national populations.
As a result, 2023 data will be more accurate but not
always directly comparable with previous years.
100%
91%
79%
56%
81%
62%
52%
50%
8%
TRUST
43%
22%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
24 sata
Dnevno.hr
HTV News (public television)
Index.hr
Trust
43%
42%
49%
43%
49%
47%
42%
63%
53%
50%
58%
42%
40%
42%
49%
Neither Don’t Trust
31%
33%
26%
26%
29%
33%
35%
23%
33%
33%
25%
36%
35%
35%
31%
26%
25%
25%
30%
22%
20%
23%
14%
14%
17%
16%
22%
25%
22%
20%
Overall trust in news is at a similar level (34%) to that seen in many other Southern
and Eastern European countries. This year’s fall reflects a further decline after the
pronounced COVID-19 bump seen in 2021. Trust is highest among legacy broadcast
brands such as NovaTV (63%) and RTL (58%).
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
Jutarnji list
N1
Net.hr
NovaTV
Otvoreni radio
Regional or local newspaper
RTL News
Slobodna Dalmacija
Telegram
Tportal.hr
Večernji list
50%
39%
34%
34%
42
/ 180
0%
2017
2023
=31/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
71.95
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
28%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Instagram
5
Viber
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
53% (-4)
27% (-3)
19% (-1)
71%
70%
64%
14%
(-)
(-1)
42%
49%
46%
13% (-2)
6
Facebook Messenger 11%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0068.png
68
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
11m
87%
CZECH REPUBLIC
Just as the media market started showing signs of recovery after the
pandemic, it had to cope with the energy crisis and rising inflation.
The war in Ukraine also tested the country’s resilience against
disinformation, and there are intensified calls for more systemic
measures to counter this.
The advertising market continued its
return to the pre-COVID levels of growth
in the first half of 2022, but the rebound
stopped towards the end of the year,
following the country’s plunge into
economic recession and the second-
highest inflation rate in Czech history
(+15%). Dramatic cost increases have
hit newspaper publishers hard, with
many cutting budgets and journalists.
In addition, a dozen outlets ceased
publishing, mostly blaming the rising
cost of paper. However, the largest Czech
digital company, Seznam, was also hit,
reportedly cutting staffing on its news
website Seznamzpravy.cz by 11%,
36
and
closing the newsroom at its television
station TV Seznam.
On the other hand, parts of the digital
media market have enjoyed further
growth, especially online video on demand.
Following the arrival of Disney+ in June
2022, another global streaming platform
– SkyShowtime – launched its services for
Czech customers in February 2023, and
the leading Czech commercial TV network
Prima added its own platform Prima+ as
well. The popularity of news podcasts has
also been increasing. In a search for new
revenue sources, Seznam launched the
Seznam Medium blogging platform in late
2022. Modelled on Medium.com, it allows
users the opportunity for their blogs to
appear on the Seznam.cz homepage (once
the article receives 100,000 views), and
to earn up to half of the advertising
revenue generated.
In November 2022 – just a year after its
launch – Google added to the sector’s
woes in announcing the end of its News
Showcase programme, which had
provided eight Czech newsrooms with an
extra source of revenue. Furthermore,
both Google and Meta have stopped
displaying snippets from Czech news
websites on their platforms, hitting traffic
and consequently advertising income.
This was in reaction to an amendment
to the Copyright Law (transposing the
provisions of the EU’s DSM Directive into
the Czech legislation), implementing very
stringent rules for the digital platforms’
compliance, including a penalty of up to
1% of global annual turnover in case of a
breach.
37
Many commentators argue that
the legislation has done more harm than
good, unintentionally denying publishers
their customary revenues, instead of
strengthening their hand vis-à-vis the
global platforms, as originally intended.
Commercial media, however, are not the
only ones under economic pressures. The
public service Czech Radio announced
60 redundancies in 2022, with another
wave planned for 2023. Czech Television
revealed its plan to sack 250 employees
by 2024, together with other cost-saving
measures, including a halt on investment.
Both broadcasters have blamed these
moves on the unsustainable financial
situation caused by the continuing
freeze on the licence fee, which has
not been increased since 2008 (for
Czech Television) and 2005 (for Czech
Radio). Promises from the centre-right
government elected in late 2021 to
safeguard the financial sustainability
of public service media have not been
realised. Similarly, planned reforms
to reinforce independence of the
regulatory bodies – the media councils –
by reforming the appointments system
have stalled, faced with obstruction by
the parliamentary opposition. Both the
continuing uncertainty regarding the
licence fee and the protracted impasse
concerning the system of media councils
means PSBs remain exposed to potential
political pressure.
There were renewed policy initiatives in
2022 to strengthen protection against
disinformation, particularly in the wake
of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The
Czech Republic was one of the few EU
countries to end broadcasts by the
Russian propaganda channels Sputnik
and RT and temporarily block several
prominent domestic disinformation
and conspiracy websites. The perceived
arbitrariness of this action by the
Czech association of internet service
providers, following a request by
the army, highlighted the need for
a legal framework backing the fight
against disinformation. However, the
proposed law has been repeatedly
delayed, raising concerns about the
government’s commitment to this
cause. Concerns increased in late 2022
when the draft action plan to combat
disinformation was leaked, including
proposals for the centralisation of state
advertising and systematic financial
support for independent media. The
draft plan attracted vigorous criticism
from the Union of Publishers. The
government responded in February
2023 by suddenly abolishing the post
of the Media and Disinformation
Commissioner (established only a year
previously),
38
thereby effectively ending
the preparations of the action plan and
leaving the future of state policies for
countering disinformation in doubt.
Václav Štětka
Loughborough University, UK
36
37
38
https://www.e15.cz/byznys/media-prechod-do-digitalu-nezvladla-krize-jim-zasadi-smrtelnou-ranu-1395646
https://www.kuceralegal.cz/amendment-to-the-copyright-act-publishers-versus-platforms-will-the-media-get-any-money/
https://english.rozanek.cz/czech-government-media-commissioner-michal-klima-removed/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0069.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
Czech TV News (incl ČT1, ČT24) (public broadcaster)
TV Nova News
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
55
36
34
29
14
12
12
10
9
9
9
8
7
7
5
5
Digital News
both layers:
Axis Line on
Report 2023 | Czech Republic
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
69
Seznam Zpravy
iDnes.cz
Novinky.cz
Aktualne.cz
Czech TV News online (Ct24.cz)
CNN.iprima.cz
TN.cz
Denik.cz
Blesk.cz
iRozhlas.cz
Super.cz
Parlamentnilisty.cz
DenikN.cz
Re ex.cz
DVTV.cz
Extra.cz
9
8
8
8
7
7
7
14
12
23
19
19
29
36
32
48
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
CNN Prima News
Prima News
Czech Radio News (public broadcaster)
Mlada Fronta DNES
Blesk
Regional or local newspaper
Denik
Radio Impuls News
Metro
Evropa 2 News
Frekvence 1 News
Hospodarske noviny
Pravo
Re ex
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
The percentage of people getting their news from
print is now the lowest since the survey began, down
by over half since 2015. Local web portal Seznam has
a dominant position online, running dozens of web
services including the leading news site.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
91%
85%
83%
68%
50%
14%
TRUST
41%
37%
50%
16%
0%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Aktualne.cz
Blesk
CNN Prima News
Trust Neither Don’t Trust
51%
16%
52%
57%
48%
46%
55%
45%
44%
48%
41%
45%
54%
40%
29%
22%
25%
25%
19%
33%
34%
29%
34%
31%
29%
34%
35%
25%
27%
19%
62%
23%
16%
23%
19%
20%
17%
21%
26%
23%
24%
21%
21%
32%
Overall trust has reached a record low, possibly because of the cost-of-living crisis and
the war in Ukraine, but potentially also reflecting the presidential election campaign
in January 2023, which was marked by polarisation and spreading of disinformation.
Trust in specific news brands has remained largely the same, with public service media
retaining their lead.
Czech Radio News (public broadcaster) 59%
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Czech TV News (public broadcaster)
Deník
Frekvence 1
Hospodářské noviny
Lidové noviny
Mlada Fronta DNES
Novinky.cz
Právo
Radio Impuls
Seznam Zpravy
TV Nova
50%
39%
30%
2015
2023
30%
14
/ 180
0%
=38/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
83.58
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
31%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Facebook Messenger 13%
5
Instagram
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
45%
(-)
73%
66%
53%
(-)
(-)
48%
34%
14%
24% (+1)
15% (+1)
12% (+3)
7%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0070.png
70
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
5.8m
98%
DENMARK
The Danish media market has two strong public broadcasters (DR and
TV2) and several successful commercial brands which receive an annual
public subsidy. Commercial news organisations are facing increasing
prices for newsprint, falls in print subscribers and advertising revenue,
growing inflation, and new pay deals with journalist and other staff unions
(March 2023) and have responded by cutting costs and laying off staff.
The gathering financial pressures on
commercial media have taken their toll
in the past year. The national tabloid
paper
BT,
founded in 1916, closed its
print version in January 2023. This
reflected increased newsprint costs
and falling print revenues and followed
an unsuccessful attempt at opening
local online news services in four
provincial cities, leading to the loss of
32 journalistic jobs.
BT’s
online business
model combines advertising with data
gathered from user registrations. The
other leading tabloid,
Ekstra Bladet,
went through a major upheaval in 2022,
replacing all the top editors. But with
the closure of
BT’s
paper it has faced
less competition in print and has seen
its lead over BT online increase (from 4
to 6 percentage points), according to our
survey respondents.
Most commercial news websites have
paywalls with only limited content freely
available and our survey respondents
reported a relatively high rate of
paying for news online (19%). Digital
subscription prices for broadsheet sites
were already quite high. However,
increasing costs mean some news
organisations are reluctantly increasing
subscription rates by 5–10% in early 2023.
Observers were underwhelmed by the
media policy deal agreed in May 2022
by the social-democratic government,
accusing it of being pretty much
business-as-usual and lacking in a vision
to address the wider digital challenges.
The most dramatic change was to the
Danish subsidy system on which many
titles depend for survival: in 2022 state
subsidies totalled €54m awarded to 76
recipients. The new system will impose
a ceiling on the amount received by the
big conglomerates – which will hit JP/
Politiken (Jylands-Posten,
Politiken,
Ekstra Bladet)
and Berlingske (Berlingske,
Weekendavisen, BT)
hardest – alongside
a commitment to increase subsidies to
local and regional newspapers.
From the perspective of commercial
operators, the proposed 6% levy on
streaming services’ annual turnover
looks more positive but it is unclear how
this will be implemented. The Alliance
of Danish Press Organisations, which
started collective negotiations with tech
giants about payment for news content
in 2021, has landed two deals, with
Microsoft and the Upday news app.
The digital activities of publicly funded
broadcaster DR are set for a radical
turn following its new 2025 Strategy,
which redirects significant funding from
its flagship linear channel DR1 to the
digital news platform dr.dk, the audio
platform DR Lyd, and the cross-media
youth platform DR Ung. Similarly, the
commercial public service operator
TV2 has closed its youth-targeted linear
channel TV2 ZULU, in order to revamp
its online offers to 20–30-year-olds
under the Echo brand across platforms.
The 24/7 news channel TV2 News will
become the new hub for all TV2’s news
services across platforms.
Public broadcasters’ digital
developments have exacerbated tensions
with commercial operators, and the
Association of Danish Media has filed a
complaint to the European Commission,
accusing DR of unfair competition,
because of its free offer of the dr.dk news
service and the DR news app.
Streaming has already overtaken
broadcast TV in terms of numbers
watching. Danes subscribe on average
to four streaming services. DR and TV2
are responding by investing in their own
streaming services. It seems to be paying
off. Netflix tops the list (58% say they
have used it at least once in the last year),
but DR.TV (52%) and TV2 Play (40%) are
not far behind.
Facebook is losing ground. TikTok
experienced a breakthrough during
the general election campaign, when
some politicians’ memes and humorous
campaign videos succeeded with teen
audiences. TV2 Echo,
Ekstra Bladet,
and Zetland all publish news videos
on TikTok.
It was a breakthrough year for podcasts
in Denmark in 2022. Commercial
operators are rushing to invest, with
many (Bauer Media; regional publishing
conglomerate JFM) expanding their
podcast portfolios. TV2 has a daily
news podcast and two weekly themed
podcasts, and DR is increasing its
already substantial offering in the hope
of building greater listener loyalty. Our
survey shows public broadcaster DR
produced more than half (51%) of the
news-related podcasts mentioned by
respondents. It also produces the most
successful news podcast, Genstart, a
narrative-driven, single-subject deep
dive modelled on The Daily from the
New York Times
(see more in Section 2.5:
News Podcasts: Who is Listening and
What Formats are Working?).
Kim Christian Schrøder, Mark Blach-
Ørsten,
and
Mads Kæmsgaard Eberholst
Roskilde University, Denmark
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0071.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
DR News incl. P1, P3, P4 (main public broadcaster)
TV2 Nyhederne (incl. TV2 News)
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Axis
Digital
both layers:
Line on
News Report 2023 | Denmark
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
44
40
31
25
11
11
10
9
9
71
56
TV2 News online (incl.regional options)
54
23
14
9
9
9
5
5
3
3
3
3
3
3
DR News online
Ekstra Bladet online
BT online
Politiken online
Free local weekly newspaper online
Regional or local newspaper online
Berlingske online
Jyllandsposten online
Altinget
6
Børsen online
6
Dagens online
6
Avisen online
Information online
BBC News online
Zetland
5
4
4
4
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Regional news via TV2 (Nord, Fyn, Lorry)
Free local weekly newspaper
Commercial radio news
Ekstra Bladet
Regional or local newspaper
Politiken
6
Jyllandsposten
Berlingske
Børsen
BBC News
CNN
Weekendavisen
Radio 4
Information
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Changes in news sources’ offline and online reach
are very small this year, although regional TV has
dropped by 6pp, with the tabloid
Ekstra Bladet
gaining 3pp. TV and print sources, and news from
social media, continue their slow decline.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
85%
81%
78%
59%
40%
50%
49%
31%
19%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
34%
17%
0%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Altinget.dk
Avisen
Berlingske
Børsen
Trust
57%
45%
68%
72%
43%
36%
83%
36%
66%
70%
58%
69%
69%
79%
58%
Neither Don’t Trust
30%
37%
23%
21%
26%
35%
12%
24%
24%
21%
29%
22%
24%
13%
29%
13%
18%
9%
7%
31%
28%
6%
40%
10%
9%
13%
9%
7%
7%
13%
Trust in news media remains relatively high in Denmark at 57%. Brand trust scores
remain at similar levels to previous years, with the exception of digital-born Zetland
(+8pp), presumably due to increasing brand knowledge among news users. Public
service news brands score high, while tabloids
BT
and
Ekstra Bladet
remain lower.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
BT
Dagens.dk
DR News (main public broadcaster)
Ekstra Bladet
Information
Jyllands Posten
Kristeligt Dagblad
Politiken
Regional or local newspaper
TV2 Nyhederne (incl. TV2 News)
Zetland
50%
57%
57%
57%
3
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=4/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
89.48
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
15%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
3
Instagram
4
YouTube
5
LinkedIn
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
31% (-4)
(-)
(-)
7%
71%
56%
42%
7%
(-)
47%
23%
11%
2
Facebook Messenger 8%
5% (+1)
5% (+1)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0072.png
72
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
5.6m
94%
FINLAND
Finland’s news media environment features a strong regional press,
a strong PSB (Yle), one widely read national daily (Helsingin
Sanomat),
and two popular evening tabloids, both reaching over half of the adult
population. There is a relatively high level (21%) of paying for online
news and Finnish news remains the most highly trusted among the
countries surveyed.
Finnish news media’s recovery from
the hit caused by Coronavirus looked
less assured in the second half of 2022
as energy and paper costs increased
and accelerating inflation hit spending.
Newspaper advertising (print and online,
free city papers included) decreased
3.3% from 2021 to 2022 after an increase
of 8.6% from 2020 to 2021 and a COVID-
linked decline of 21% from 2019 to 2020.
The economic uncertainty has some of
its roots in the war of Ukraine, which
stayed in the headlines, along with the
process of Finland and Sweden joining
NATO. Some Finnish news media had
their own reporters on site and used
Ukrainian correspondents to describe
people’s everyday life and attitudes
under the war.
Helsingin Sanomat
also
regularly publishes reports by Meduza,
an independent Latvian-based news
service specialising in Russia.
One of the smaller TV news channels,
AlfaTV, that had been strengthening its
audience position in the last few years,
was also very active in reporting on
the Ukraine war, with plenty of on-site
reporting. However, its parent company
went bankrupt and closed the channel
at the end of November 2022. Even
though AlfaTV had less than 2% share of
television viewing,
39
its volume of current
affairs programmes was comparable to
that of Yle. AlfaTV had secured additional
investment in 2021 but didn’t win enough
advertising revenue to survive. The
channel had a rather conservative slant
and had sought to broaden the range of
perspectives on Finnish TV.
Yle, for its part, was obliged to limit its
online news in text after a change in
the law came into force in August 2022.
The origins of this lie in the Finnish
Media Federation’s 2017 complaint
to the EU claiming that Yle’s online
news in text form contravened EU
state aid legislation. The law restricts
such content online to that related to
their audiovisual content or covered
by specific exceptions. It seems though
that the restrictions have not had much
impact on Yle’s online offering. The
change in regulation may turn out to
be just another incentive for increasing
and developing audiovisual content
online, which Yle and its commercial
competitors might have done anyway.
Yle also faced new threats when the
then main opposition parties (National
Coalition Party and Finns Party)
proposed cuts of roughly a quarter in
Yle’s funding. Both parties emerged
in the lead in April 2023 elections and
may become members of the next
government. Yle’s half-billion-euro
budget is funded mainly by annual Yle-
tax of up to €163 collected from Finnish
taxpayers. In our Digital News Report
survey, 71% of Finnish respondents said
that publicly funded news services,
such as Yle news, are important to
them personally and 79% said they
are important to society. These figures
are high compared with those of other
countries. The proposed cuts may reflect
increased criticism by private media
companies who blame the PSB for
unfair competition in the digital world,
combined with a more politically driven
right-wing criticism targeted at Yle’s
news.
Government plans for a long-term
direct subsidy mechanism for news
media have not proceeded. The current
system still depends almost solely
on the indirect subsidy provided by a
reduced 10% VAT rate for newspapers,
books, and magazines, both online and
print. However, in 2023 there will also
be a one-off direct subsidy of €7m for
journalists’ salaries. The aims are to
prevent so-called local news deserts,
support the plurality of news content,
and promote informed public debate.
The industry welcomed these aims even
though it would have preferred a more
comprehensive, generous, and long-term
media policy programme.
40
In January 2023, two
Helsingin
Sanomat
journalists were sentenced
for a 2017 article which revealed
classified information about a Finnish
military signals facility, used to gather
intelligence.
41
The court could have
imposed a four-year prison sentence,
but was more lenient, requiring the lead
author to pay an income-related fine (less
than one month’s net earnings), with no
action taken against the other journalist.
The case generated debate about the
limits on journalists’ right to publish on
issues related to national security and
the verdict may be appealed.
Esa Reunanen
Tampere University, Finland
39
40
41
Finnpanel. https://www.finnpanel.fi/en/tulokset/tv_reportlist.php
The Finnish Media Federation. https://www.medialiitto.fi/uutiset/yksittaisen-mediatuen-sijaan-tarvitaan-laajempaa-mediapolitiikkaa/
Yle News. https://yle.fi/a/74-20015097
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Yle TV news (public broadcaster)
MTV3 News
Yle radio news (public broadcaster)
Free city papers
Ilta-Sanomat
Iltalehti
Local newspapers
Commercial radio news
Regional newspapers
Helsingin Sanomat
Talouselämä
Suomen Kuvalehti
Kauppalehti
Other foreign TV news channels
BBC News
CNN
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
4
4
4
3
3
3
Yle (TV and radio)
weekly reach:
65%
25
24
20
19
17
17
16
15
59
54
Digital News Report 2023 | Finland
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Ilta-Sanomat online
Iltalehti online
41
30
28
14
12
9
8
8
7
7
7
5
5
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
73
60
57
Yle News online (incl. news via Areena)
Helsingin Sanomat online
MTV News online (incl. Katsomo News)
Regional newspapers online
Local newspapers online
Kauppalehti online
Talouselämä online
Free city papers online
Foreign newspapers online
MSN News
Uusi Suomi online
Other foreign TV news online
BBC News online
Commercial radio news online
6
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
The use of online news sources and television news
remains largely unchanged. The printed press,
however, continues its slow decline, with the
exception of the evening tabloids, which increased
their readership slightly this year.
100%
90%
75%
89%
65%
50%
53%
40%
44%
29%
21%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
31%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Commercial radio news
Free city papers
Helsingin Sanomat
Hufvudstadsbladet
Trust
69%
60%
81%
70%
65%
66%
80%
81%
72%
81%
77%
78%
79%
63%
87%
Neither Don’t Trust
19%
24%
10%
21%
15%
15%
14%
13%
19%
10%
16%
15%
15%
24%
6%
12%
16%
9%
9%
21%
19%
7%
7%
9%
9%
7%
8%
6%
14%
8%
Contrasting with most other countries surveyed, Finland has maintained its trust levels
after the COVID-19 bump, and brand-level trust shows a small increase for the
television news channels and the evening tabloids. The Ukraine war and the process of
Finland joining NATO may have increased the majority’s trust in experts, institutions,
and indeed the news media.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Iltalehti
Ilta-Sanomat
Kauppalehti
68%
50%
69%
69%
1/46 markets
Local newspaper
Maaseudun Tulevaisuus
MTV News
Regional newspaper
Suomen Kuvalehti
Talouselämä
Uusi Suomi
Yle News (public broadcaster)
OVERALL TRUST
0%
2015
2023
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
87.94
5
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
30%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Instagram
5
Twitter
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
32% (+1)
15% (+3)
15% (+1)
69%
65%
73%
10% (+2)
8% (+2)
5% (+3)
50%
17%
20%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0074.png
74
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
66m
92%
FRANCE
Widespread criticism, distrust, and avoidance – red flags are everywhere
concerning the state of news in France. French media companies face
a drastic drop in interest, along with one of the highest percentages
of disconnection from news. However, some key existing players are
reporting increased digital subscription numbers and new digital
initiatives on investigative and environmental journalism are emerging.
This year, only 36% say they are very
interested in news, compared with 59%
in 2015. The same proportion (36%) say
they sometimes and often ‘actively’ avoid
the news. They have developed various
strategies online, including ignoring or
scrolling when they see news on screen
(24%), and on mobiles they unsubscribe
from notifications (13%). There are also
selective avoiders who choose to avoid
specific subjects: the war in Ukraine is the
topic mentioned most often, with politics
second, and COVID-19 third, revealing a
new aversion to hard news. It’s a dramatic
change from last year when the Ukraine
crisis sparked a renewed interest in news.
There’s been no increase in the low
level (11%) of paying for news in France.
However, some brands’ pay models
are succeeding and our French survey
respondents are unusual in paying for an
average of two – rather than one – online
news sources.
Le Monde
with its 547
journalists has the highest level of digital-
only subscribers at almost 500,000 this
year, an impressive increase of 25% on last
year.
Le Figaro
with 500 journalists has
275,000 digital-only subscribers compared
with 250,000 last year and the pure-player
Mediapart, with its 73 journalists, reports
210,000 subscribers. Despite these success
stories nearly half (47%) of French non-
payers say nothing could encourage them to
pay for news online, and 29% say they might
reconsider if the cost was lower. In practice
publishers are tending rather to increase
prices to cover costs and emphasise the
‘premium’ nature of their content.
The proposed merger of the M6 and TF1
TV groups has been halted by the French
competition authority on the ground that
the merged group would be dominant
within the TV advertising market. As a
result, their attempt at creating a ‘French
Netflix’ called Salto ended in March 2023.
Media policy has been quiet, in part
because while President Macron was
re-elected in 2022 he lost his parliamentary
majority shortly afterwards and has since
been engaged in an – at times bitter –
fight to push through his pension reform.
Nevertheless, his election promise to
abolish the annual TV licence fee (€138)
has been implemented and will be replaced
by a direct government grant. The public
broadcaster France TV is changing its
line-up and from September will remove
national TV news from its regional France
3 channels, in favour of more regionally
managed news and features and more
content online. By the Autumn the
government is organising an event
called the ‘Estates General of the Right
to Information’ to address issues
including press independence and
news in the age of social media.
Social media remains one of the main
access points to online news while direct
access to news apps and websites is
declining. In France, TikTok’s use for news
is growing (8%), with nearly twice that level
(15%) for 18–24-year-olds. Among those
producing social videos tailored for TikTok
are individuals such as Hugo Décrypte
(with his explainer videos), digital start-
ups, and mainstream operators such as
20minutes, BFM TV, and even TF1.
All major media organisations have
committed to a charter
42
to improve
journalism in the face of the climate
emergency. France TV now has a major TV
environmental programme in prime time.
There are also new digital-born initiatives
focused on environmental journalism such
as Vakita, which is also active on TikTok.
Another start-up focused on investigative
journalism is L’Informé, which launched
in October 2022. It employs 15 journalists,
aims to have 50,000 paid subscriptions,
and is advertising-free, but also has some
well-known investors, including Xavier
Niel, owner of the telecoms company
Free and a part owner of
Le Monde.
Podcast use is stable, with 28% saying
they had listened to a podcast in the last
month – and of these almost half (45%)
spent the same amount of time listening
as last year. Hard news podcasts are less
attractive than personal development and
entertaining podcasts. However, Radio
France is performing well, with a 30%
increase in the past year in audiences on its
own podcast platform, which it established
to reduce dependence on third parties such
as Spotify and Apple.
Alice Antheaume
Executive Dean, Sciences Po Journalism School
42
https://chartejournalismeecologie.fr/upgrading-journalistic-practices-to-tackle-the-ecological-emergency-a-charter/
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2841850_0075.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
France Télévisions (public broadcaster)
TF1 News (incl. TF1, LCI, TMC)
BFM TV News
Regional or local newspaper
M6 News
23
17
14
14
11
7
32
31
27
42
Digital News Report 2023 | France
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
20 Minutes online
15
15
13
10
10
10
9
8
8
7
7
75
Regional or local newspaper online
TF1 News online
France Info (public broadcaster)
Le Monde online
BFM TV online
M6 online
Yahoo! News
Le Parisien online
Le Figaro online
Brut
Public radio news (France Inter, Culture, Bleu, etc.)
CNews
Commercial radio news (RTL, etc.)
20 Minutes
L’Equipe
Le Monde
6
France 24
6
Le Figaro
Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France
Canal+
Le Point
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
4
4
4
MSN News
6
CNews online
6
Mediapart online
6
Also
Ouest France offline:
5%
Le Hu Post
6
Lepoint.fr
5
Also
Ouest France online:
5%
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
TV and online remain the top two sources, with TV
slightly ahead this year. Printed newspapers have
been in long-term decline but have remained steady
around 15% since 2020.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
84%
68%
50%
64%
60%
46%
34%
18%
15%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
11%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
28%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
20 Minutes
BFM TV news
CNews
France Bleu
Trust
44%
40%
38%
48%
55%
51%
57%
42%
36%
52%
41%
43%
44%
61%
46%
Neither Don’t Trust
38%
24%
30%
38%
29%
33%
26%
39%
42%
31%
42%
37%
33%
28%
32%
18%
36%
32%
14%
15%
16%
17%
18%
21%
17%
17%
20%
23%
12%
22%
France still ranks low for overall trust in news by international standards at 30%.
Most brands have increased their trust levels, with regional or local papers being most
trusted, followed by public service brands and
Le Monde,
the leading quality newspaper
brand. Commercial TV brands tend to have lower trust levels.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
France Info
France Inter
France Télévisions News
Le Figaro
Le HuffPost
Le Monde
Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui en France
M6 News
Mediapart
Regional or local newspaper
TF1 News
50%
38%
30%
2015
2023
30%
24
/ 180
0%
=38/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
78.72
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
27%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Instagram
4
WhatsApp
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
36% (-3)
23% (-2)
16% (+3)
59%
51%
34%
15% (+2)
(-)
(-1)
8%
41%
37%
15%
5
Facebook Messenger 14%
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2841850_0076.png
76
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
84m
94%
GERMANY
Germany has seen interest in news, frequency of use, and trust all
decline slightly in the past year. Commercial players are experiencing
tough times with print sales falling, a major publisher being dismantled,
titles being closed, and staff laid off. PSBs remain the most used news
services, even after falls in reach this year, but they have been hit by a
self-inflicted scandal which is prompting major changes to their future
remit and organisation.
Commercial news providers have had a
turbulent year. After RTL’s purchase of
the Hamburg-based magazine publisher
Gruner + Jahr (from Bertelsmann) last
year, RTL has closed multiple titles and
laid off several hundred employees. Up
to 700 jobs will be lost in Hamburg alone.
A few famous titles, such as
Stern,
will
be retained and the rest sold. Declining
advertising revenues are cited as the
main reason. The remaining titles are
now to be increasingly focused on the
digital business.
Axel Springer, the owners of Germany’s
most successful tabloid,
Bild,
has also
announced plans to cut jobs while
investing to become a purely digital media
company.
Bild’s
move into TV has been
scaled back and its main live bulletins
Bild Live
and
Bild am Abend
have been
cancelled because of low ratings. In April
2023, Axel-Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner
came under pressure as leaked messages
contained controversial comments
about East Germany and climate change,
among other things, and seemed to be
attempting to exert political influence
over the editorial team.
43
Sales of printed newspapers and
magazines both fell in the fourth quarter
of 2022. The German Audit Bureau of
Circulation (IVW), blamed high inflation in
part for the fall in paid circulation of daily
newspapers, including Sundays, of 9.41% to
an average of 12.3m copies daily in Q4 2022
compared with 13.54m a year earlier.
The fall affected quality papers and
tabloids alike. Well-known titles such as
the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(FAZ)
and the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
(SZ) each saw
total paid circulation decline by between
5 and 6% in Q4 2022 compared with the
same period in 2021. Meanwhile tabloid
Bild
44
also saw sales fall, by 7.63% in
the same period to 1.099m.
Bild’s
digital
subscriptions increased, but not by enough
to compensate for falling print sales.
Of our survey respondents 11% pay for
online news. Titles mentioned most
frequently include
Bild, Der Spiegel, FAZ,
and
SZ.
In general, daily papers saw digital
subscriptions grow by 5% but
FAZ
and
SZ’s
growth was rather slower (FAZ up from
59,170 to 62,478 and
SZ
up from 96,616 to
98, 817) and this also failed to compensate
– either numerically or financially – for the
decline in print. With weeklies things were
brighter with an overall increase of nearly
50% in digital subscriptions; titles such as
Der Spiegel
and
Die Zeit
saw slower digital
growth but nevertheless sufficient to drive
overall increases in paid circulation.
The delivery of printed daily newspapers
was partially discontinued for some brands
on the grounds of cost, especially in rural
areas. Under the coalition agreement
between the governing parties, financial
support for newspaper delivery was
promised but has not yet happened.
In the dispute between Google and
the collecting society Corint Media,
representing about one-third of the
German press, the official Arbitration
Board has proposed that Google should
provisionally pay €5.8m for the use of
press content. The payment would be for
the period from 7 June 2021 and is under
consideration by Corint Media, which had
originally demanded a payment of €420m
from Google.
The debate about public service
broadcasting in Germany has flared up
again, prompted by a scandal in late 2022
at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB),
one of the stations that is part of the ARD
network. The scandal involved accusations
of nepotism, waste, and improper award
of contracts against the former director of
the RBB. RBB’s director and chairman were
both fired after a committee of inquiry and
investigations by the Public Prosecutor’s
Office, but reforms have also been made
to the supervisory committees of all
PSBs. The affair has led to changes in the
Interstate Treaty on Broadcasting, coming
into force in 2025, including a tighter
remit for German PSBs together with
measures to increase transparency and
oversight. This may affect numbers of PSB
TV channels or what moves to the internet
or is stopped altogether. A scandal at one
ARD station is going to have far-reaching
consequences for the shape of German
PSBs over the coming years.
Sascha Hölig
Leibniz-Institute for Media Research | Hans
Bredow Institute, Hamburg
43
44
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/13/axel-springer-ceo-mathias-dopfner-leaked-messages-reported
Bild’s
figures are reported together with Berlin’s
B.Z.
paper.
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0077.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
ARD News (Tagesschau, Tagesthemen)
ZDF News (heute, heute-journal, etc.)
RTL News
Regional or local newspaper
n-tv
Public regional radio news
Public regional TV news
Sat.1 News
Commercial radio news
Free local newspaper
WELT (formerly N24)
Bild/Bild am Sonntag
Commercial regional TV news
6
Der Spiegel
6
Stern
Focus
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
5
11
11
9
9
7
19
17
17
15
28
37
44
Digital News Report 2023 | Germany
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
t-online
16
14
13
12
12
12
10
10
9
8
7
7
7
5
5
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
77
ARD News online (tagesschau.de etc)
n-tv.de
Web.de
Bild.de
Spiegel online
Focus online
GMX
Regional or local newspaper online
Welt.de
ZEIT online
ZDF News online (heute.de etc)
Public regional TV news websites
Sueddeutsche.de
MSN News
Stern.de
6
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Use of all sources declined. This may partially reflect
increasing general news avoidance. However, the
public broadcast channels ARD and ZDF have seen a
greater decline in their weekly use for news than
RTL, the leading commercial channel.
100%
82%
66%
63%
50%
63%
59%
11%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
28%
18%
0%
29%
21%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
ARD Tagesschau
Bild
Der Spiegel
Die ZEIT
Trust
62%
22%
53%
54%
52%
50%
55%
59%
44%
49%
54%
40%
34%
51%
60%
Neither Don’t Trust
19%
23%
27%
28%
29%
29%
27%
25%
28%
29%
28%
36%
40%
29%
21%
19%
54%
20%
18%
19%
20%
18%
16%
28%
23%
18%
24%
26%
20%
20%
Trust in news overall has fallen to a level below that seen before the COVID bump.
This is reflected in falling trust for almost every brand too. Scandals like those at public
broadcaster RBB do not help improve the overall picture but the two main PSB news
brands still have the highest level of trust and
Bild
the lowest.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
FAZ
Focus
n-tv
Regional or local newspaper
RTL aktuell
Stern
Süddeutsche Zeitung
t-online
web.de
WELT
ZDF heute
50%
60%
43%
43%
21
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=14/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
81.91
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
21%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
YouTube
2
WhatsApp
3
Facebook
4
Instagram
5
Twitter
6
Telegram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
16% (+2)
14% (-1)
14% (-3)
47%
62%
36%
8%
4%
(-)
(-)
26%
10%
10%
5% (+1)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0078.png
78
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
10m
79%
GREECE
Trust in news in Greece saw a large decline this year, partly due to
perceptions of undue political and business influence on journalism.
The media market in Greece is further characterised by digital
fragmentation and high use of social media for news.
The past year has been characterised by
heated discussions about press freedom
and media pluralism in Greece among
politicians and the public.
45
These are
reflected in the large decline in the
share of respondents who trust news
(a decrease of 8 percentage points).
Greece now has the lowest proportion
(19%) of respondents trusting news in
the 46-market sample.
The discussion surrounding press
freedom intensified in May 2022, after
the annual press freedom index by
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
placed Greece in 108th position (down
38 positions from 2021), below many
non-democratic countries. The opposition
responded by accusing the government
of restricting media freedom, citing the
state-run news agency’s failure to
mention Greece’s position in their article
covering the RSF report. Meanwhile, the
government criticised the report, with
the Prime Minister publicly calling it
‘crap’, causing a fierce reaction from
RSF.
46
When the Prime Minister was
asked by Members of the European
Parliament in Strasbourg to comment,
he physically pointed to the front pages
of anti-government newspapers as
evidence that there was no shortage
of media pluralism in Greece. The 2023
RSF report puts Greece in a similar
position to last year (107th position).
The decision of a special court to
convict the minister of digital policy,
telecommunications, and media of
the previous government for illegal
interference in the TV licensing auction
in 2016 – along with a businessman who
participated in the process – exacerbated
existing perceptions of undue political
and business influence in Greek media.
In addition, the period following the
deadly Tempi train crash in March 2023
(after our survey was completed) was
also characterised by public outrage and
rallies against the parties that had
governed throughout the past decades.
Vocal criticism was directed at some
commercial broadcasters and famous
TV journalists who were perceived to be
biased in favour of the government when
attributing responsibility for the train
crash and for not previously sounding
the alarm about railway safety.
The digital media market in Greece
remains extremely fragmented, with our
Greek survey respondents using a very
large number of news sources per week,
compared with other countries. The
fragmentation of attention online is
partly due to the large number of digital
news media outlets operating, but also
due to the high number of Greeks online
using social media like Facebook for
news, meaning news consumption is
more casual and incidental. Other than
Facebook, young Greeks are increasingly
using Instagram and TikTok to get news
updates from news organisations, or
political influencers/activists. However,
the fragmentation of the Greek news
media ecosystem extends way beyond
digital media. For instance, TV audiences
are split between nine commercial and
public national broadcasters, with the
vast majority of news bulletins and
programmes struggling to stand out in
the Nielsen ratings. Similarly with print,
despite the tiny market for print news,
there are still at least 20 national daily
newspapers and seven national sports
newspapers in circulation; the majority
of them have very small audiences and
are loss-making.
The scoop of the year was the revelation
that a large number of Greek prominent
figures, including high-level politicians,
investigative journalists, army leaders,
and businesspeople, had their mobile
phones monitored either by illegal
surveillance software and/or by the
National Intelligence Service.
The reporting that led to these revelations
started from April 2022, led by journalists
Eliza Triantafillou and Tassos Telloglou
from the digital-born, subscription-based
Inside Story.
47
Despite their multiple
stories on the topic it took months before
mainstream news media outlets in Greece
followed up with their own reporting in
July 2022, after a European Parliament
investigation showed that the phone of
the MEP and leader of the Greek socialist
party had been hacked by the illegal
surveillance software. The scandal led to
the resignations of both the chief of the
National Intelligence Service and the
Prime Minister’s general secretary on
5 August 2022, with the latter filing
defamation claims for hundreds of
thousands of euros against investigative
journalists and media outlets. The
government denies being behind the
wiretapping.
One lesson from this incident is that,
despite the structural weaknesses of
Greek investigative reporting (lack of
resources, lack of editorial freedom,
partisan motives), consistent and
thorough reporting by small niche outlets
was effective in uncovering a major
scandal with political repercussions.
Antonis Kalogeropoulos
Free University Brussels (VUB)
45
46
47
This profile went to press before the Greek elections due in May 2023 and again in June 2023.
https://rsf.org/en/world-press-freedom-index-greek-government-spokesman-responds-poor-ranking-counterfactual-claims
https://insidestory.gr/article/who-was-tracking-mobile-phone-journalist-thanasis-koukakis
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0079.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
SKAI News (incl.radio)
MEGA TV News
Alpha News
35
33
33
32
31
25
24
12
12
11
10
9
9
8
7
7
Digital News Report 2023 | Greece
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Dikaiologitika.gr
In.gr
Newsbomb.gr
News247.gr
Proto Thema online
Newsit.gr
Kathimerini online
ERT News online
Lifo.gr
Mixanitouxronou.gr
Ie merida.gr
Newsbeast.gr
Zougla.gr
Skai news online
CNN Greece (CNN.gr)
Capital.gr
24
23
22
19
18
17
17
16
15
15
15
14
13
13
13
12
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
79
ERT (incl. ERT1 & ERT3) (public broadcaster)
ANT1 News
Star News
Open News
Kathimerini
Real News (print & radio)
Proto Thema
To Vima
Ta Nea
Regional or local newspaper
Other foreign newspapers/broadcasters
Other local radio news
E merida ton Syntakton
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
We introduced education quotas for the first time
in Greece as part of our efforts to make data as
representative as possible of national populations.
As a result, 2023 data will be more accurate but not
always directly comparable with previous years.
100%
96%
74%
66%
81%
61%
48%
50%
10%
TRUST
31%
15%
0%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Alpha News
Ant1 News
Dikaiologitika.gr
Efimerida ton Syntakton
Trust
42%
41%
50%
43%
49%
43%
47%
40%
42%
37%
40%
41%
51%
36%
41%
Neither Don’t Trust
30%
29%
30%
29%
25%
31%
29%
29%
35%
32%
30%
30%
31%
22%
32%
28%
30%
20%
28%
25%
26%
24%
31%
23%
31%
30%
28%
19%
42%
26%
Trust in news fell by 8pp, partly due to heated debate about political and business
influence on news media. This fall was largely reflected at the brand level, although
trust in public broadcaster ERT increased by 3pp this year. Generally local news
outlets have high trust, while partisan commercial national broadcasters and
tabloid newspapers or tabloid-style digital-born news websites are least trusted.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2016–23
100%
ERT News (public broadcaster)
in.gr
Kathimerini
MEGA
news247.gr
Newsbomb.gr
Proto Thema
Real News
Regional or local newspaper
SKAI News
Ta Nea
50%
20%
0%
2016
2023
19%
19%
107
For News
46/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
55.2
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
34%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Viber
4
Facebook Messenger 19% (-4)
5
Instagram
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
46% (-7)
30% (-6)
20% (-4)
70%
67%
60%
55%
51%
19%
18% (-3)
10% (-5)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0080.png
80
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
9.6m
89%
HUNGARY
Following the landslide victory of the ruling Fidesz party in April 2022,
leading to a fourth consecutive term for Viktor Orbán as Prime Minister,
many media outlets have started downsizing, with some major titles
ceasing print publication.
In the Hungarian media market 2022
was a turbulent year. With runaway
inflation, cost-cutting measures were
introduced by many media companies.
Following the elections, pro-government
media conglomerate KESMA, the owner
of over 400 titles, closed some of its
smaller publications, downsized staffing
at several others, and ended the print
publication of major titles including
long-running finance daily
Világgazdaság,
the weekly
Figyelő,
launched in 1958, and
‘patriotic tabloid’
Ripost.
It sold ‘Viktor
Orbán’s favourite newspaper’, sports
daily
Nemzeti Sport,
to the state and in
early 2023 merged its opinion portal
888.hu with Origo.hu. Pro-government
broadsheet
Magyar Hírlap,
published
since 1968, went online only, while
government-friendly television channel
Pesti TV folded. Several media outlets
not clearly aligned with the government
have also cut costs. Weekly
168 Óra
and
free
Pesti Hírlap
ceased print publication,
and news portal Azonnali.hu, owned by
an opposition MP, closed. On the plus
side, RTL and TV2 both launched new
online streaming platforms, RTL+ and
TV2 Play Premium, respectively, with
exclusive content for subscribers.
The closure of media outlets just after
the elections suggests a view of the
media as a political instrument. It also
signals a shift towards social media,
used by 61% in Hungary, in Fidesz’s
media strategy. Megafon Centre, a
conservative social media incubator that
trains pro-government influencers and
promotes their posts, has been pushing
the government’s narratives to Hungarian
Facebook users’ feeds. Megafon was also
one of the biggest spenders on political ads
on Facebook in the election campaign,
48
urging citizens to vote for Fidesz. It claims
to be funded by private donors.
Yet traditional media are also seen as
playing an important role in the 2022
Fidesz election victory. The OSCE’s Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights election monitoring mission
reported that ‘the pervasive bias in the
news and current-affairs programs of the
majority of broadcasters monitored …
combined with extensive government
advertising campaigns provided the
ruling party with an undue advantage.’
49
State advertising continues to distort the
media market, channelling public funds
to pro-government media and starving
independent outlets of advertising
revenue. Four independent weeklies are
planning to sue the government over
discriminatory ad purchasing.
In July the European Commission took
the government to court over the Media
Council’s 2021 decision to force one of the
last independent radio stations, Klubrádió,
off the air. Hungary’s oldest community
radio Tilos Rádió nearly faced the same
fate when the authority refused to renew
its licence. After a three-week hiatus, Tilos
Rádió was back on air in September. The
Commission also referred Hungary to
court over the 2021 law that bans content
‘promoting’ homosexuality to minors.
Media ownership and funding were
dominant topics in public debate.
Following revelations that the opposition
parties may have received campaign funds
from abroad, government politicians, the
pro-government media, and influencers
launched smear campaigns against
independent media outlets that have
received foreign funding. These media
outlets, including Telex and Átlátszó, are
labelled ‘dollar media’ and are accused
of serving ‘foreign interests’.
Reporting on Russia’s war in Ukraine
has been controversial, with many
seeing Hungary as ‘the EU capital of
Russian disinformation’.
50
Although
the media authority found that major
television channels reported on the war
objectively, the Hungarian Civil Liberties
Union and think tank Political Capital
filed a complaint with the European
Commission, claiming that the public
media kept citing Russian propaganda
channels RT and Sputnik even after they
were banned in the EU.
With public discussions of the ‘dollar
media’ and Russian disinformation, it
is not surprising that trust in news has
decreased to just 25%. Hungary now
ranks 45th out of the 46 countries in the
Digital News Report.
Not only has trust
decreased, but a drop was registered in
most media outlets’ reach (though some
of it may be related to a change in survey
methodology). Once-independent,
now pro-government Index.hu and
independent 24.hu remain the top
online news sources, now followed by
pro-government Origo.hu. In its second
full year of operation, independent Telex
is the fourth most often used online
news source. For offline, independent
RTL’s reach fell but it remains the most
frequently used news source (41%), with
TV2 trailing far behind (27%).
Judit Szakács
and
Éva Bognár
Central European University
48
49
50
https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/04/08/kampany-a-facebookon-50-nap-3-milliard-forint
https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/2/6/523568.pdf
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-war-narrative-hungary-disinformation/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0081.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
RTL News
TV2
ATV
Retro Rádió
Rádió 1
HírTV
Blikk
MTV (public TV news)
HVG
Duna TV
Magyar Rádió (public radio news)
Euronews
Regional or local newspaper
6
Bors
6
CNN
6
Nemzeti Sport
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
7
17
15
15
13
12
12
11
9
27
23
41
Digital News Report 2023 | Hungary
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
index.hu
24.hu
origo.hu
telex.hu
444.hu
hvg.hu
rtl.hu
portfolio.hu
atv.hu
tv2.hu
blikk.hu
hírtv.hu
borsonline.hu
hirado.hu (public broadcaster)
ripost.hu
Partizán
9
9
7
7
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
81
35
34
29
27
26
24
22
17
16
15
14
10
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
We introduced education quotas for the first time
in Hungary as part of our efforts to make data as
representative as possible of national populations.
As a result, 2023 data will be more accurate but not
always directly comparable with previous years.
100%
88%
72%
64%
50%
85%
61%
51%
9%
TRUST
27%
7%
0%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
24.hu
444.hu
ATV
Blikk
Trust
42%
38%
43%
20%
32%
51%
38%
30%
29%
32%
32%
34%
50%
44%
29%
Neither Don’t Trust
33%
30%
28%
29%
26%
27%
31%
33%
22%
34%
28%
33%
24%
31%
22%
26%
32%
29%
51%
42%
22%
31%
37%
49%
34%
40%
33%
26%
25%
49%
Overall trust in news is very low. Right-wing respondents tend to trust the news more
than those on the left (36% and 28%, respectively). The independent outlets HVG and
RTL remain most trusted, and distrust at the brand level is quite high. Almost half the
respondents said they did not trust the PSB MTV.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2016–23
100%
HírTV
HVG
Index.hu
Magyar Nemzet
MTV (public television)
Népszava
Origo.hu
Regional or local newspaper
RTL
telex.hu
TV2
50%
31%
0%
25%
2016
2023
25%
72
/ 180
45/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
62.96
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
32%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
4
TikTok
5
Instagram
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
53% (-7)
28% (+1)
76%
72%
65%
9% (+4)
7%
(-1)
5% (+2)
28%
34%
12%
3
Facebook Messenger 12% (-2)
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
5m
92%
IRELAND
The Irish media landscape is somewhat nervous in 2023: in particular,
global job losses at tech companies have major implications for
Ireland as Dublin is the European headquarters of many of them,
including Meta, Twitter, and Microsoft. The high cost of print, allied
with the general cost-of-living crisis is also testing the sustainability
of print production.
The
Future of Media Commission Report
was finally published in July 2022 after a
long delay during which the government
deliberated about whether to implement
its main recommendation to replace the
RTÉ licence fee with direct state funding.
In the end the government decided to
retain the current RTÉ funding system
but subject it to ongoing review.
Meanwhile the commission, which was
set up to find ways of boosting the media
industry in straitened times, had all its
other 49 recommendations accepted by
the government. The industry overall,
which serves a vital public service of
providing information trusted by many –
as witnessed during the COVID-19 crisis
– faces multiple problems: the rising
cost of living and the ever-increasing
competition for ad-spend by companies
such as Google, Facebook, and TikTok.
One major recommendation, which
came into being in January 2023, was
the immediate reduction of VAT on
newspapers – both in print and online –
from 9% to 0%. This was designed to help
traditional media transition to digital
content, especially at a time of ballooning
newsprint costs. It is hoped this financial
advantage won’t just be passed on to
shareholders but will improve digital
content and newsgathering and help
preserve or grow journalism jobs. In
October Peter Vandermeersch, chief
executive of Mediahuis Ireland, publisher
of titles including
The Independent,
told
the Business Post, ‘Somewhere in the
future, there won’t be print editions
during the week’.
51
Pundits and reporters were
generally happy with the report’s
recommendations, in particular with
plans for a new Media Fund to foster
public service journalism. The fund’s
51
52
53
first action was to announce a focus
on investing in local democracy and
court reporting. The resources given to
improved and wider court reporting were
particularly welcome, and schemes will
be rolled out across 2023.
Despite this good news for journalism,
the economic downturn has seen a
number of job losses across the sector. In
August there were redundancies at
Times
Ireland
and the Irish section of the
Sunday
Times.
52
This led to the termination of the
Times Ireland
digital weekday editions;
digital-first stories are now published
ahead of the
Sunday Times
newspaper.
The
Irish Mirror
and the
Irish Daily Star,
two titles owned by UK company Reach,
announced job cuts in January due to
falls in advertising and digital revenues.
In March, Mediahuis also announced an
‘extensive’ round of job cuts.
It is not just the traditional media
facing layoffs: significant job cuts were
also announced across the year by
multinational tech firms, including Meta
(Facebook), Alphabet (Google), Twitter,
Amazon, HubSpot, Stripe, Dell, and
Microsoft. According to the Central Bank,
so far 2,300 people have lost jobs in
Ireland, but this is expected to rise.
The
Irish Times
53
commented that, if
this is largely a readjustment following
growth during COVID, ‘then the sector
may return to growth before too long’.
In March a new Media Commission
was established, Coimisiún na Meán,
which replaces the former Broadcasting
Authority of Ireland. Among other
things, this new body will regulate
broadcasting and audiovisual online
safety content under relevant EU
directives. It will also impose a levy on
providers of audiovisual media services
to fund production of European media.
Another scheme will provide funds to
community broadcasting to support
good journalistic practice.
This year’s survey data suggest a slight
tightening of belts in terms of payment
for online news media in Ireland, down 1
percentage point from last year to 15%
of those surveyed. The top titles named
by our respondents were the
Irish Times,
the
Irish Independent,
the
Guardian,
and
the
New York Times.
The percentage who
say they listen to podcasts is down 2pp
at 44% but similarly two of the most
cited podcasts are from publishers based
abroad, reflecting the permeability of
the Irish market (see Section 2.5: News
Podcasts: Who is Listening and What
Formats are Working?).
Professor Colleen Murrell
Dublin City University
Emmet Ryan, ‘Mediahuis Chief: The Money we Get from the Vat Reduction will Go into Developing New Platforms’, Business Post, 1 Oct. 2022. https://www.businesspost.ie/post-
plus/mediahuis-chief-the-money-we-get-from-the-vat-reduction-will-go-into-developing-new-platforms/
Donal MacNamee, ‘Staff at Sunday Times and Times Ireland Offered Voluntary Redundancy in Overhaul’, Business Post, 29 June 2022. https://www.businesspost.ie/news/staff-
at-sunday-times-and-times-ireland-offered-voluntary-redundancy-in-overhaul/
Editorial, ‘The Irish Times View on Job Losses in Tech: A Warning Signal’,
Irish Times,
23 Jan. 2023. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2023/01/23/the-irish-times-
view-on-job-losses-in-tech-a-warning-signal
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
RTÉ News (public broadcaster)
Sky News
BBC News
Virgin Media TV News
Today FM
Local radio news
Irish Independent/Sunday Independent
Newstalk
The Irish Times
CNN
Regional radio news
ITV or Channel 4 TV News
Irish Daily Mirror
Irish Examiner
Regional or local newspaper
Irish Sun
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
10
9
9
9
9
8
8
22
21
18
18
17
17
29
24
57
Digital News Report 2023 | Ireland
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
RTÉ News online
TheJournal.ie
Irish Independent online
BreakingNews.ie
The Irish Times online
BBC News online
Sky News online
Local radio news online
Irish Examiner online
Irish Mirror online
Guardian online
Today FM online
Her.ie/ joe.ie
16
15
12
11
11
9
9
8
7
7
21
22
27
35
30
83
Regional or local newspaper online
MailOnline
CNN.com
6
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
The decline of TV and print as news sources has
accelerated over the past eight years, while online
has remained steady with no signs of it making up
the gap.
100%
83%
76%
49%
50%
79%
58%
48%
50%
15%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
44%
23%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
BBC News
Breakingnews.ie
Irish Daily Mail
Irish Daily Mirror
Trust
68%
55%
42%
40%
63%
67%
64%
68%
70%
71%
65%
70%
58%
64%
64%
Neither Don’t Trust
17%
28%
25%
26%
23%
20%
22%
21%
20%
15%
18%
18%
26%
24%
22%
15%
17%
33%
34%
14%
13%
14%
11%
10%
14%
16%
12%
16%
12%
14%
Trust in news in general remains relatively high in Ireland and the 5pp fall to 47% from
52% last year seems to reflect a return to the levels seen in 2017 and 2019 pre-COVID.
At the brand level many scores have declined slightly but RTÉ remains the most trusted
brand, closely followed by local or regional radio and the
Irish Times.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Irish Examiner
Irish Independent
Newstalk
Regional/local newspaper
Regional/local radio
RTÉ News
Sky News
The Irish Times
TheJournal.ie
Today FM
Virgin Media News
50%
46%
47%
47%
2
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
11/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
89.91
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
29%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
YouTube
4
Twitter
5
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
30% (-3)
21% (-1)
19% (-1)
61%
72%
59%
15% (+1)
15% (+1)
9% (+4)
26%
43%
24%
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
60m
91%
ITALY
The Italian media system is being rocked by successive waves of
digital transformation. Publishers are selling traditional outlets and
acquiring digital companies focused on social media to target young
audiences. Digital advertising overtook traditional offline advertising
but is challenging, and the percentage paying for online news remains
low, so legacy media brands are restructuring their newsrooms.
Major Italian publishing groups are
continuing to offload some of their
traditional news outlets to smaller
publishers. Following on from its
previous sales of major magazines
such as
Panorama
and
Donna Moderna,
the Mondadori Group, owned by Silvio
Berlusconi’s family, is now selling its
main newspaper,
Il Giornale,
to the
Angelucci group, which already owns
other centre-right outlets such as
Libero
and
Il Tempo.
A new strategic
focus on young audiences is clear from
Mondadori’s December 2022 purchase of
Webboh, an online outlet specialised in
gossip and insights on the world of social
media content creators.
In 2022 the GEDI group, which publishes
major newspapers such as
La Repubblica
and
La Stampa,
sold the renowned
investigative magazine
L’Espresso
and
several local newspapers. In February
2023, faced with the possibility of further
sales of local newspapers, journalists
at
La Repubblica
went on strike. This
followed resignations by several
journalists in protest at the new editorial
line of the newspaper, which they say
changed with GEDI’s new owners –
whom they blamed for softening the
paper’s traditional centre-left stance
to broaden its appeal. Meanwhile
GEDI also prioritised social media
content distribution and monetisation,
with its July 2022 purchase of 30% of
Stardust, an innovative and fast-growing
influencer-focused marketing company.
Takeovers are not limited to traditional
publishers. In 2022 the recently
established podcast company Chora
Media bought the digital-born outlet
Will Media. While both players mainly
distribute their content on third-party
platforms such as Spotify (for Chora
Media’s podcasts) and Instagram (for
Will’s videos), the newly acquired outlet
contributes with its popularity among
young audiences. Our data show that Will
Media’s general online reach is still quite
limited (2%), but it does much better
among 18–24-year-olds (8%).
Online advertising revenues overtook TV
advertising revenues for the first time in
2019, and by 2021 accounted for over half
(54%) of overall advertising revenues.
54
There has been a clear trend towards
implementing paywall solutions since
2017 but the percentage of our survey
respondents paying for online news today
– at 12% – is the same as it was five years
ago.
Il Corriere della Sera,
the first among
the top Italian newspapers to introduce
pay solutions, has recently celebrated
reaching 508,000 digital subscribers.
Most Italian news organisations still
mainly rely on online advertising to fund
digital operations. However, publishers’
share of online advertising revenues is
limited, with platforms such as Google
and Facebook/Meta taking the lion’s
share (85% in 2021).
55
This is particularly
worrying as traditional advertising
revenues shrink. From 2017 to 2021, the
overall revenues in the television and
print sectors decreased by 10%, and this
led to a reduction of 2,400 employees
(-17%) just in the newspaper and
magazine industry.
56
The online reach of Italian news brands is
relatively unchanged. The websites with
the widest reach are those of the main
commercial TV broadcasters (Mediaset’s
TgCom24 and SkyTg24), the Italian PSB
RAI (Rainews.it), the Italian news agency
ANSA, and the leading newspapers (La
Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera,
and
Il
Fatto Quotidiano).
The digital-born outlet
Fanpage, which has a strong social media
presence, retains its position among the
top Italian news outlets. Il Post is another
digital-born outlet achieving reasonable
results (6%). These sites are particularly
popular among young audiences, with
Fanpage reaching 26% and Il Post
reaching 13% of online under-35s.
In January 2022, HuffPost Italia
introduced a freemium model with
part of its content only accessible to
paying users; this generated 5,000
subscribers in the first six months, but
its online reach – which was 9% in our
last 2022 survey – has fallen to 5%.
Il
Corriere della Sera’s
publisher (Cairo/
RCS) reported that the group’s digital
revenues accounted for 25% of the total
in 2022.
Il Corriere della Sera
has recently
announced an editorial reorganisation to
strengthen its digital operations. Along
with a reduced number of pages in the
print edition, these changes include an
earlier start for the newsroom to ensure
that online users can access a more
complete and enhanced online news
offer from early in the morning.
Alessio Cornia
Dublin City University
54
55
56
https://www.agcom.it/relazioni-annuali
https://www.agcom.it/relazioni-annuali
https://www.agcom.it/focus
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
RAI TV News (Tg1, Tg2, Tg3, TgR)
TgCom24 (Mediaset)
SkyTg24
RAI News24
Tg La7
Regional or local newspaper
Commercial radio news
La Repubblica
Il Corriere della Sera
Fuori dal Coro
RAI radio news (Gr1, Gr2, Gr3)
Dritto e Rovescio
Piazzapulita
Porta a Porta
Il Fatto Quotidiano
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
13
13
13
12
12
11
10
9
9
7
15
23
23
19
43
40
Digital News
Axis Line on both layers:
Report 2023 | Italy
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
TgCom24 online (Mediaset)
Fanpage
ANSA online
SkyTg24 online
La Repubblica online
13
12
11
11
10
9
8
8
7
7
7
21
20
20
16
85
Mediaset TV News (Tg4, Tg5, Studio Aperto)
RAI News online (public broadcaster)
Il Corriere della Sera online
Commercial radio news online
Notizie Libero online
Il Fatto Quotidiano online
TgLa7 online
Regional or local newspaper online
Il Sole 24 Ore online
Quotidiano.net (La Nazione online etc.)
La Stampa online
Yahoo! News
6
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Social media use for news has declined in recent years,
but is still more than double that of print and, together
with online, is slightly more used than television.
100%
80%
74%
59%
50%
70%
69%
42%
27%
16%
12%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
30%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
ANSA
Fanpage
Il Corriere della Sera
Il Fatto Quotidiano
Trust
78%
42%
63%
55%
51%
69%
59%
57%
47%
58%
53%
63%
66%
71%
63%
Neither Don’t Trust
15%
31%
24%
27%
27%
21%
23%
26%
26%
23%
24%
19%
23%
19%
22%
7%
28%
13%
18%
22%
10%
18%
17%
27%
20%
23%
18%
11%
9%
15%
Overall news trust remains very low (34%) but there are relatively high levels of trust in
some specific news brands, especially those known for lower levels of political
partisanship. The least trusted outlets are those with a more pronounced political bias
and also the digital-born outlet Fanpage.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Il Giornale
Il Sole 24 Ore
La Repubblica
La Stampa
Libero Quotidiano
Mediaset News
Porta a Porta
RAI News (public broadcaster)
Regional or local newspaper
SkyTG24
Tg La7
50%
35%
34%
34%
41
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=31/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
72.05
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
34%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
Instagram
4
YouTube
5
Telegram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
44% (-1)
27% (+1)
20% (+2)
68%
83%
53%
19% (-2)
9%
(-)
8% (+3)
58%
29%
23%
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
17m
95%
NETHERLANDS
A strong PSB and a high degree of media concentration continue
to characterise the Dutch media landscape, but regulators have
put a stop to further market consolidation. After previous reports
of sexual misconduct at commercial broadcasters in 2022, a toxic
workplace culture was also exposed within the PSB.
Alongside the popular public service
news organisation NOS, the Belgian-
owned commercial publishers DPG
Media and Mediahuis continue to
dominate both the offline and online
news market. However, 2022 was the
year when financial pressures seemed
to accelerate the move to digital in the
commercial sector. Both commercial
publishers faced increasing delivery
and production costs and increasing
cancellations of print subscriptions, and
the CEO of Mediahuis proclaimed that
‘the end of the print newspaper is nearer
than we thought’.
57
However, Mediahuis
(+13%) and DPG Media (+14%) each
reported a growth in digital subscribers
in 2022. DPG Media (owner of
Algemeen
Dagblad [AD], De Volkskrant, Trouw, Het
Parool,
and regional titles) removed its
paywalls for subscribers to one of their
titles, granting them digital access to the
premium content across all their titles.
In a rare attempt at collaboration, the
five major Dutch players (NPO, RTL,
Talpa, DPG Media, Mediahuis) joined
forces in a new initiative – Datakluis
(Data Vault). Datakluis would create a
new data infrastructure allowing Dutch
users to store their personal digital
data locally and control access. The
companies hope this will reduce their
dependence on Google and Meta and
get a larger share of advertising revenues
through increased personalisation. The
plan is currently at the research stage
and has applied for a €50m government
grant. Commercial media companies
also joined forces to negotiate with tech
giants about compensation for usage of
their news content.
In a break with the trend towards
market consolidation, the Netherlands
Competition Authority (ACM) blocked
the acquisition of Talpa Network (which
includes SBS TV) by RTL Nederland, who
together dominate the commercial TV
market. ACM argued that the merger
would make RTL too powerful and able
to set TV advertising prices.
Like other public broadcasters, NOS
is working hard to attract and retain
younger viewers and its brand NOS op 3
within NOS News is at the forefront
of those efforts. Having succeeded in
building audiences on Instagram, YouTube,
and TikTok, NOS op 3 has now started to
experiment with the livestream platform
Twitch. In its weekly livestream, it
summarises the week’s news and holds
a Q&A session with the audience.
Several media companies are launching
podcasts as one way to appeal to younger
audiences – most Dutch podcast listeners
are under 35. Around a quarter (28%) of
our sample say they have consumed a
podcast in the last month.
Aspirant PSB Ongehoord Nederland (ON)
(Unheard Netherlands) continues its
controversy-riddled run. ON claims to give
a voice to people who feel unrepresented
by existing broadcasters and seeks to
add a ‘critical voice’ on issues such as
globalisation, immigration, and climate
policy. The Dutch PSB system allows any
player that differs from existing PSBs
and gathers 50,000 paying members to
become an aspirant broadcaster, with
guaranteed public funding and airtime.
In the last year ON has been fined twice
(€84,000 and €56,000) by NPO – the
umbrella administrative body for all public
broadcasting services in the Netherlands
– for breaches of the journalistic code by
spreading disinformation, or bringing the
PSB into disrepute. In November 2022,
the NPO Ombudsman determined ON
was in breach for continuing to spread
disinformation, thereby risking a third
fine. While the Media Law provides for a
license to be revoked after just two fines,
that didn’t happen; ON is still operating as
of spring 2023. The Secretary of Culture
and Media did install an Advisory Board on
Public Service Broadcasting to advise her
on admission and accountability criteria
for public broadcasters.
The past year has also seen two high-
profile scandals involving different
forms of workplace bullying at the PSB.
The first centred on a talkshow host
whose alleged ‘extreme outbursts of
anger and public humiliation’ led dozens
of employees to be given sick leave.
The host resigned and the Minister told
the PSB to produce an action plan to
prevent such behaviour. Then in March
2023, another story broke about bullying,
(sexual) intimidation, and discrimination
at the sports division of the PSB news
channel NOS Nieuws. The editorial
board for NOS Sport resigned and NOS
has announced an organisation-wide
investigation into its workplace culture.
Tim Groot Kormelink
and
Irene Costera Meijer
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
57
https://www.tijd.be/ondernemen/media-marketing/ceo-mediahuis-het-einde-van-de-papieren-krant-is-dichterbij-dan-we-dachten/10450316.html
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
NOS Nieuws (TV & radio) (public broadcaster)
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Free local papers
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
55
29
23
19
17
17
16
15
14
12
10
7
Digital
on both layers:
Axis Line
News Report 2023 | Netherlands
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
NU.nl
NOS Nieuws online
Algemeen Dagblad (AD) online
De Telegraaf online
RTL Nieuws online
20
20
11
9
8
7
28
27
46
87
RTL Nieuws (incl. RTL Z and EditieNL)
SBS Nieuws (Hart van Nederland)
Other NPO TV news programmes
Commercial radio news
Daily regional or local newspaper
Algemeen Dagblad (AD) and regional editions
De Telegraaf
Regional TV news
Regional radio news
de Volkskrant
Regional or local TV news online
SBS Nieuws online
Regional or local newspaper website
de Volkskrant online
MSN News
6
Indebuurt.nl
6
Linda Nieuws
6
Metro News online
GeenStijl
5
5
5
4
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
BBC News
6
Non-daily regional or local newspaper
6
BNR Nieuwsradio
CNN
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
5
NRC online
CNN.com
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Public broadcaster NOS and free, ad-driven NU.nl
continue to dominate, respectively, offline and online
news use. Traditional sources for news (TV, print) are
down by around 5pp over the past two years, but
online news remains stable overall.
100%
80%
76%
76%
62%
50%
43%
42%
39%
27%
17%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
28%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Algemeen Dagblad (AD)
BNR Nieuwsradio
De Telegraaf
De Volkskrant
Trust
72%
61%
59%
68%
31%
62%
67%
38%
57%
80%
67%
73%
75%
75%
66%
Neither Don’t Trust
20%
28%
23%
21%
30%
23%
24%
35%
30%
12%
23%
18%
18%
16%
23%
9%
11%
18%
10%
39%
15%
9%
27%
13%
8%
10%
9%
7%
9%
10%
Dutch news continues to enjoy high trust levels, ranking equal 4th out of 46
countries. Public broadcaster NOS still is the most trusted brand, closely followed
by commercial counterpart RTL Nieuws and local and regional newspapers. More
partisan media and tabloid media tend to be less well trusted.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
GeenStijl
Hart van Nederland (SBS News)
Het Financieele Dagblad
Linda News
Metro
NOS News
NRC
NU (Nu.nl)
Regional or local newspaper
RTL News
Trouw
50%
51%
57%
57%
6
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=4/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
87
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
23%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
YouTube
4
Instagram
5
Twitter
6
LinkedIn
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
27%
14%
(-)
(-)
60%
76%
51%
11% (+1)
7%
5%
(-)
(-)
38%
14%
22%
17% (-2)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0088.png
88
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
5.5m
98%
NORWAY
The Norwegian media landscape combines strong national legacy
brands and public service media with a reputation for innovation
in content and business models. Norwegian media still do
comparatively well but have also been affected by rising costs.
Norwegian consumers are again those
most willing to pay for news across all 46
markets surveyed this year. With a strong
newspaper reading tradition, combined
with early investment in building up
online subscriptions, the transition to
digital subscriptions has been promoted
with hybrid solutions that typically
bundle paper and digital content. This,
and the absence of freesheets, helps to
explain the relative success of online
news payment with national titles
VG,
Aftenposten,
and
Dagbladet
cited most
frequently. Continuing a trend from last
year, evidence from our survey shows
a marginal decrease in the percentage
saying they had paid for news online (39%,
down 2 percentage points), after the peak
seen during the COVID pandemic. The
decrease is greatest among low-income
households (down 8pp), probably due to
the rising cost of living.
Illustrating the pivot to podcasts
and new subscription models, local
newspaper owner Amedia acquired a
stake in podcast production company
Moderne Media last year, and included
podcasts in its innovative all-access
online news subscription package +Alt,
which provides access to more than 90
titles across the country. Among all who
subscribed in our survey, 4% identified
as +Alt subscribers. This comes on top of
the 50% of subscribers who already pay
directly for one or more local or regional
titles, which underlines how Norway is
far from being a winner-takes-all market.
Financially, Norwegian news providers
overall remain comparatively well-off.
That said, rising costs in 2022 led to
several regional newspapers scaling
back on print, and Schibsted’s national
quality brand
Aftenposten
announced
the end of its Sunday print publication.
Entering 2023, Amedia announced a
temporary hiring freeze, and Schibsted
unveiled a plan for a €50m cut to its
news division over the coming two years,
citing increasing print costs. This follows
Schibsted’s earlier launch of its own
all-access online news subscription
package giving access to six newspapers,
44 magazines, and a series of podcasts.
Like last year, we see a continued
professionalisation and promotion of
podcasts for news and current affairs
in Norway. Major news companies
keep pushing original content, and are
adding podcast content to online news
subscription bundles to try to attract
new customers. The two top podcasts are
both deep dives: Schibsted’s Aftenposten
Forklart or ‘Explained’ (similar to the
New York Times
The Daily) and public
broadcaster NRK’s Oppdatert.
Everyday access to online news via social
media remains a challenge for publishers.
While the overall use by Norwegians of
social media for news is low, use of TikTok
is increasing fast, albeit from a low base
(doubling 3pp to 6% since last year), with
the increase unsurprisingly concentrated
among younger users; a quarter of our
respondents under 24 years old now say
they use TikTok for news, compared with
57% overall use in that age group.
So-called news avoidance appears as
a relatively minor issue in our survey,
with the most-avoided topics being the
war in Ukraine and climate change and
environmental news.
As a NATO member, and a small country
bordering Russia, the war in Ukraine has
been prominent in Norwegian news. Main
topics include humanitarian and military
support, and deteriorating relations
with Russia, evident from a succession
of possible espionage incidents – ranging
from suspected drone operations to the
arrest of a suspected Russian spy.
A report from a high-profile government-
appointed commission on free speech
praised conditions for public debate,
citing the ample opportunities for
citizens to speak out and with reliable
and diverse information sources widely
available. The commission focused
on hate speech and harassment of
politicians and people in public life,
especially representatives of minority
groups. That topic has featured in
Norwegian media during the last year,
particularly following a terrorist attack
during Oslo Pride in June. The recurring
discussions of the role of publicly funded
NRK also surfaced in the report, which
suggested that NRK’s substantial
contribution to an informed public
debate should be balanced against
commercial media companies’ ability
to compete. In the subsequent debate,
the Norwegian Media Businesses’
Association highlighted this point.
Controversial so-called alternative news
site Resett, known for right-wing critique
of immigrant policy and mainstream
media, had a turbulent year with its
high-profile editor being dismissed, and
successive ownership changes, before the
site was bought back by the former editor
and merged with new brand iNyheter.
Hallvard Moe
University of Bergen
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
NRK News (TV and radio)
TV2 News
VG (Verdens Gang)
Regional or local newspaper
P4 News (radio)
Local radio news
Dagbladet
A enposten
Local TV News
Radio Norge
CNN
6
BBC News
6
Bergens Tidende
Dagens Næringsliv (DN)
SVT (Svensk TV)
Adresseavisa
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
5
4
4
12
12
10
10
9
18
14
24
43
54
Digital News Report 2023 | Norway
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
VG Nett
NRK News online
Dagbladet online
TV2 News online
Nettavisen
E24
22
19
18
10
9
7
5
5
5
4
Also
Document.no:
27
33
30
39
59
89
Regional or local newspaper online
A enposten online
ABC News online
Dagens Næringsliv (DN) online
Bergens Tidende online
Adresseavisen online
Dagsavisen online
Stavanger A enblad online
P4 News online
BBC News online
6
4%
Human Rights Service/HRS:
2%
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
PSBs NRK and TV2 keep their strong positions in offline
news this year. Online, Schibsted-owned
VG
is first
again, followed by NRK and other established brands.
Among online business news providers, digital-born
E24 – also owned by Schibsted – ranks clearly above
legacy brand
Dagens Næringsliv
(DN).
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
86%
72%
54%
41%
86%
50%
55%
45%
39%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
39%
20%
0%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
ABC News
Aftenposten
Dagbladet
Dagens Næringsliv
Trust
44%
70%
54%
68%
56%
28%
48%
54%
80%
60%
56%
75%
74%
65%
Neither Don’t Trust
33%
18%
22%
22%
29%
32%
30%
27%
10%
26%
30%
16%
14%
17%
23%
11%
24%
9%
15%
40%
22%
19%
9%
15%
14%
9%
12%
18%
Overall trust in news remains comparatively high, with a slight decline to pre-COVID
levels (53%, -3pp), with little polarisation. By brand, trust levels and rankings remain
stable, with PSBs and local newspapers at the top. Tabloid news brands and so-called
alternative news sites such as Document tend to be less trusted.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2016–23
100%
Dagsavisen
Document.no
Klassekampen
Nettavisen
NRK News (public broadcaster)
P4
Radio Norge
Regional or local newspaper
TV2 News
VG
50%
46%
53%
53%
1
/ 180
0%
2016
2023
8/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
95.18
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
20%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Snapchat
4
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
29% (-2)
13% (+1)
11%
(-)
72%
54%
54%
9%
(-)
(-2)
50%
54%
21%
5
Facebook Messenger 9%
6% (+3)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0090.png
90
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
38m
92%
POLAND
Frightening headlines about Ukraine and the worsening economic
climate have led Poles to avoid news and instead turn to entertainment.
Combined with the post-pandemic headwinds and government
pressure, this has deepened the long-standing crisis in independent
news outlets.
The initial spike in news consumption
caused by the war in Ukraine waned,
and newsrooms had to face the harsh
reality. Print media suffered as costs
of paper skyrocketed and advertisers
cut spending. Publishers responded
by raising cover prices, laying off staff,
and closing titles. Ringier Axel Springer
Poland, Agora, Burda Media Poland,
and Bauer all laid off hundreds of
employees. Many publications were
discontinued or shrunk, with Burda
closing down 20 magazines, and Axel
Springer terminating the print version
of
Auto Świat
magazine and reducing the
number of editions of the sports daily
Przegląd Sporotwy
to two a week.
Television, which is usually less vulnerable
to the cyclical changes of the advertising
market, had to face another problem.
Big broadcasters saw their audience
shrinking, faced with competition from
all the major streaming players in Poland.
In 2022, for the second year in a row,
no show crossed the 5 million viewer
threshold, compared with 2020, when
there were six such shows, and 32 shows
in 2019.
As people gravitated towards
entertainment, France’s Canal+ bought
a 70% stake in SPI International, the
owner of several TV channels and the
new streaming platform Dizi.
58
Smaller
legacy outlets had to shut down their
business. Motor-Presse Polska, the
publisher of magazines such as
Men’s
Health, Women’s Health,
and
Runner’s
World,
filed for bankruptcy.
However, even small-scale media
sympathetic to the government could
count on steady streams of cash from
state enterprises. Almost half of the 128
million zloty (€27.5m) spent in magazines
in 2021 went to government-friendly
opinion weeklies, while total ad spending
by government ministries and agencies
increased by 40% compared with 2020.
PSB TVP had no reason to complain as
parliament increased the annual grant for
public service broadcasting from 2 billion
(€425m) to 2.7 billion zloty (€576.6m).
TVP is widely criticised for its skewed,
pro-government news coverage, with
its trust scores among the lowest in our
survey. In December, Poland’s largest
opposition party, the centrist Civic
Platform (PO), submitted a bill that
would abolish the public broadcaster
news channel, TVP Info, which PO says
has become a ‘propaganda’ outlet for
the national-conservative ruling Law
and Justice (PiS) party.
59
The government supported TVP by
effectively undercutting its competitors’
reach and creating uncertainties
around their business. The Electronic
Communications Office (UKE) used the
switchover to the new digital terrestrial
television standard (DVB-T2) – which
required some consumers to replace
their TV sets or buy new set-top
boxes – as an opportunity. Private TV
stations had to switch to DVB-T2 in
2022, while TVP was allowed to stick
to the old standard (DVB-T) until the
end of 2023.
60
Meanwhile, the National
Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) increased
pressure on the largest commercial
television station, TVN – which ranks
top in weekly reach – owned by Warner
Bros Discovery, by calling for the
company’s ownership structure to be
investigated by an international auditor
when applying for a licence renewal for
one of its channels, which expires in
June 2023.
Another tool for exerting pressure on
independent media has been the
state-owned oil company Orlen, the
owner of Orlen Press, the largest group
of regional dailies in Poland – employing
800 journalists – and Ruch, the second
largest newspaper distributor. Daniel
Obajtek, the controversial chairman of
Orlen, has attracted criticism for his
decision to remove the weekly magazine
Nie
featuring an image of Pope John Paul II
on its cover from Orlen and Ruch sales
points. The cover, which he regarded as
blasphemous, was prompted by a
documentary focusing on Pope John Paul
II’s alleged knowledge of paedophilia and
sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in
Poland. Obajtek’s decision has been seen as
further evidence of him acting as an
instrument of the ruling party.
The only major launch for the Polish
media market last year was I.pl – a news
portal launched by Orlen Press with a
staff of 44 journalists. The new outlet
reached its target of 5 million unique
users. However, a year after the takeover
of the publishing business now known
as Orlen Press, the state oil giant had to
write down 33 million zlotys (€7m) from
its 100% stake.
Vadim Makarenko
Director of Research Digital, Statista GmbH;
former journalist, Gazeta Wyborcza and
former Reuters Institute Journalist Fellow
58
59
60
https://tbivision.com/2021/09/21/canal-buys-filmbox-kino-polska-owner-spi-international/
https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/12/19/polish-opposition-submit-bill-to-abolish-state-tvs-propaganda-news-channel/
https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2022/03/29/poland-starts-dvb-t2-transition-amid-controversy/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0091.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TVN News (incl. TVN 24)
RMF FM
Polsat News
TVP News (public television)
Radio Zet
Eska
Fakt
Gazeta Wyborcza
TTV
Regional or local radio
Super Express
Regional or local newspaper
Polskie Radio (public radio)
6
VOX FM
6
Przegląd Sportowy
6
Newsweek Polska
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
5
14
14
12
10
9
9
9
24
22
31
37
35
Digital News Report 2023 | Poland
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Onet.pl
WP.pl
TVN24.pl
Interia.pl
RMF24.pl
TVP.info
Fakt.pl
Gazeta.pl
(Gazeta) Wyborcza.pl
Polsatnews.pl
Radiozet.pl
NaszeMiasto.pl
Newsweek.pl
16
15
13
12
12
12
9
8
7
24
23
32
39
91
Polityka.pl
6
Regional or local newspaper online
6
OKO.press
5
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Use of all sources of news is down and this is reflected
in declining reach for major news websites. Among
the top ten online news brands, only the PSB
(TVP.info) saw an increase in reach of 2pp.
100%
84%
81%
77%
56%
50%
50%
52%
28%
14%
TRUST
11%
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Eska
Fakt
Gazeta Polska
Gazeta Wyborcza
Trust
44%
33%
31%
41%
44%
44%
46%
51%
49%
45%
55%
30%
47%
28%
44%
Neither Don’t Trust
39%
30%
34%
28%
35%
33%
31%
29%
34%
37%
31%
34%
27%
25%
35%
17%
37%
35%
32%
21%
23%
23%
20%
17%
19%
15%
36%
26%
47%
21%
Trust in news in general (42%) has remained stable, though some brands such as Onet
and Polsat News have experienced strong gains of 7pp. Traditionally, independent
media tend to have higher trust ratings than state-controlled public broadcaster TVP,
which holds the lowest trust ratings: 47% distrust it and only 28% trust it.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Interia
Newsweek Polska
Onet.pl
Polsat News
Radio Zet
Regional or local newspaper
RMF FM
Super Express
TVN News
TVP News (public broadcaster)
WP.pl
50%
56%
42%
42%
57
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=17/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
67.66
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
35%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
4
WhatsApp
5
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
48% (-1)
30% (-3)
71%
65%
54%
12% (-1)
12%
(-)
11% (+4)
36%
33%
28%
3
Facebook Messenger 19% (-2)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0092.png
92
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
10.3m
88%
PORTUGAL
The favourable impression created by continuing high trust in
Portuguese news media only provides a partial picture of the situation.
Journalists are up in arms about working conditions and wages falling
behind inflation. At the same time, media companies are struggling
for successful business models in a market where consumers are
extremely resistant to pay for digital news.
As the rising cost of living hits consumers,
the news business is also feeling the
impact of structural economic changes.
Many are still clinging to traditional
business models, but declining print
circulation and revenue are making
the shift towards sustainable digital
strategies ever more urgent. Portugal
remains one of the markets with the
lowest rates of paying for digital news
(11%); consumers prefer to rely on free
sources and, although some brands have
developed paywalls, most are failing to
win large numbers of subscribers.
Portuguese journalists have long suffered
from low wages and poor job security. In
the past year journalists have been active
in demanding better working conditions,
highlighting the relationship between
job security and decent salaries and their
ability to produce quality journalism.
Localised strikes and protests have taken
place with the support of the Portuguese
Journalists Union, whose president has
raised the possibility of a general strike.
According to APCT, the official body
responsible for tracking circulation,
falling print circulation and revenue
is affecting all major national outlets.
Modest rises in paid digital subscriptions
cannot compensate for the losses in
print sales and the huge reliance on print
advertising. In 2022, Impresa’s weekly
Expresso
led the market in terms of
paid print circulation, followed closely
by Cofina’s
Correio da Manhã. Expresso
and
Público
both also have impressive
digital subscription numbers (47,450 and
46,560 respectively) –
Correio da Manhã
is behind with 23,932.
Expresso
and
Público’s
success is built on their early
transition towards digital revenue and
the gradual introduction of paywalled
content online, even in a market where
resistance to paying for online news is an
issue. The digital landscape also includes
a rich offer from advertising-funded sites
Sapo portal and Notícias ao Minuto,
which have considerable reach on the
web and social media.
Audio and particularly podcasting are
a key focus of investment for many
organisations and some audio content
now has more reach in podcast form
than as a linear TV or radio show. Legacy
print brands such as
Expresso
and
Público
now have an extensive range of
podcasts, available for free, outside the
digital subscription offer, and big legacy
advertisers such as the banking, telecoms,
or automotive sectors are starting to
buy ad-space on the most-listened-to
podcasts. Digital-native outlets such as
Observador continue to rely heavily on
podcasts to distribute their content.
Concerns over media concentration
are rising again, as rumours circulate
of a possible buyout of Cofina Group by
another leading company, Media Capital
Group. Cofina is the market leader
in newspapers, with the best-selling
daily paper
Correio da Manhã
and the
successful TV news channel Correio da
Manhã TV. Meanwhile, Media Capital
is strong in TV with two 24-hour news
channels (TVI and CNN Portugal). This
explains why on 3 March 2023 the stock
market regulator suspended trading in
both companies until further information
on the acquisition was made public.
In 2022, the media regulator ERC and the
government agreed on the need to reform
the press law, to help stakeholders adapt
to the challenges of the digital age. Many
hope that a new legal framework will
provide clearer guidelines as to how
journalism can address issues such as
economic pressure from online platforms,
the threat of disinformation, and new
forms of revenue, such as sponsored or
branded content.
The government has also announced
plans to increase existing support for
the ailing regional and local press.
The Minister for Culture has recognised
the need and pledged a 12.5% increase,
since this funding has been frozen since
2015. The regional and local press see
this increased support as essential to
their future.
The current configuration of digital
news brands seems unlikely to replace
the democratic role played by existing
regional and local media. A recent digital
media map of Portugal
61
shows that
they are mostly located on the coastal,
heavily populated areas of the country.
In January 2021, 27% of municipalities
have become what are known as ‘news
deserts’, having no digital news brand
headquartered in their territory; about a
quarter of all outlets are based in Lisbon.
Ana Pinto-Martinho, Miguel Paisana,
and
Gustavo Cardoso
ISCTE-IUL University Institute of Lisbon
61
Iberian Digital Media Map. https://map.iberifier.eu/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0093.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
SIC News (incl. SIC Noticias)
CNN Portugal (formerly TVI24)
RTP News (public broadcaster)
TVI News
Correio da Manhã (newspaper)
RFM
Jornal de Notícias
Correio da Manhã TV
Rádio Comercial
Expresso
M80
Diário de Notícias
Público
TSF
Regional or local newspaper
A Bola
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
12
11
11
11
9
9
9
26
22
21
21
20
34
33
32
Digital News Report 2023 | Portugal
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
34
29
23
21
20
19
17
16
15
14
14
13
11
11
11
11
93
60
SIC News online (incl. SIC Notícias)
Notícias ao Minuto
Correio da Manhã online
Correio da Manhã TV online
Sapo
Jornal de Notícias online
CNN Portugal online (formerly TVI24)
Observador
Expresso online
Público online
TVI News online
Diário de Notícias online
Rádio Comercial online
RTP News online
MSN News
RFM online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Despite high reach offline, legacy TV brands face a more
competitive scene in the online arena, where print and
digital-born brands are increasing and diversifying their
offer. TV remains central but online, mainly social, keeps
getting traction among younger Portuguese.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
86%
85%
61%
50%
74%
68%
50%
47%
11%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
38%
21%
0%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Agência Lusa
Correio da Manhã
Expresso
Jornal de Notícias
Trust
73%
56%
77%
77%
70%
70%
75%
76%
73%
71%
66%
78%
78%
73%
72%
Neither Don’t Trust
20%
21%
16%
16%
21%
21%
18%
18%
19%
21%
26%
15%
15%
20%
17%
7%
23%
6%
7%
9%
9%
7%
6%
7%
8%
9%
6%
7%
7%
11%
Portugal remains one of the highest-ranking markets for trust in news (3rd/46),
due to low political polarisation and a generalised sense of the press as free
(9th/180 according to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index). In a trust-enabled
news ecosystem, most brands have high trust, with the public broadcaster RTP
again the most trusted brand.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Notícias ao Minuto
Observador
Público
Rádio Comercial
Rádio Renascença
RDP Antena 1
Regional or local newspaper
RTP News
SIC News
TSF
TVI News
66%
50%
58%
58%
9
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
3/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
84.6
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
42%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
YouTube
4
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
40% (-9)
24%
(-)
23% (-1)
69%
68%
64%
23% (+3)
9% (+4)
54%
49%
26%
5
Facebook Messenger 14% (-1)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0094.png
94
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
19m
78%
ROMANIA
There seems to be a major disconnection of digital audiences from
news and public affairs in Romania, including coverage of the
Ukraine war. Low trust, in general and for most media brands, has
several chronic causes: party propaganda on public money, blocked
investigations, smear campaigns against journalists, and difficult
access to public interest information.
In an otherwise relatively stable media
market, 2022 saw new channel launches
from both the Romanian PSB, TVR, and
Euronews. Then, in March 2023, Aleph
TV, a 24-hour TV news channel founded
in 2020, announced its insolvency.
Euronews established a Romanian-
language channel in a partnership with
Politehnica University of Bucharest.
TVR relaunched its 24-hour news
channel, TVR info, and a cultural
channel. Both were closed a decade
ago, purportedly to stabilise the
organisation’s finances, just two months
after TVR Info broadcast detailed
coverage of a scandal about the then
prime minister from the ruling PSD party,
involving plagiarism in his Ph.D. thesis.
Romanian public service TV and radio
channels consistently appear in the most
used weekly brands. Since 2017 their
funding has come directly from the state
budget and one consequence has been
to make it harder for their journalists to
cover contentious issues or scrutinise
government decisions, with damaging
consequences for public debate.
The commercial media brand leaders,
offline and online, remained virtually the
same. ProTV is the most used and most
trusted brand in Romania, for offline and
online news consumption. It is owned
by CME, operating in six countries in the
region. The next media brand, in offline
usage, is Antena 1, a Romanian-owned
general TV station, followed by Digi24,
a 24-hour TV news channel with leading
positions both offline and online, also
Romanian-owned.
Independent investigative teams
complain that public interest subjects
are blocked by propaganda money and by
difficulties using freedom of information
laws. These subjects range from publicly
62
63
64
funded residential homes to security
legislation and can potentially annoy
members of the ruling PNL (right)–PSD
(left) coalition. The issue of public money
used by politicians and public officials
to buy the silence of central and local
newsrooms remains unresolved and the
situation has deteriorated: at least €10m
were spent by the two coalition parties
for positive coverage, according to Free
Europe Romania (RFE/RL).
62
An attempt
to remove legal protection for whistle-
blowers was stopped by the European
Union. Troublesome journalists and
newsrooms are attacked. Investigative
journalist Emilia Șercan was targeted
by two smear campaigns, of which at
least one was orchestrated by the PNL,
according to a Council of Europe report.
63
Yet investors are once again interested
in online and TV. Last year, Romania’s
first digital-born newsroom, HotNews,
was bought by a company whose owner
already has some other news sites.*
Advertising is a growing source of media
income – with an estimated 20% increase
in digital revenues in 2022. Online media
now claim more than one in every three
euros, from an estimated total advertising
market of €640m.
64
TVR Info and Euronews as new arrivals
have modest market shares but join
an already crowded market for TV
news channels, with five brands in our
permanent list of TV, radio, and print
news sources (Digi 24, România TV,
Realitatea Plus, Antena 3 CNN, and
B1TV). The 24-hour TV news channel
Antena 3 announced a partnership with
CNN International and changed its name
to Antena 3 CNN, to try to increase
brand recognition – but to the apparent
confusion of supporters and critics.
Romanian news users, in common with
those surveyed in neighbouring countries,
often cited news about the war in Ukraine
as one factor leading them to avoid the
news. Nevertheless, with the Ukraine
war on their borders, all newsrooms
and all journalists have a publicly stated
commitment to covering it well and
particularly in verification and identifying
fake news. Still, on several occasions,
interviewees were asked to comment on
clips from video games, presented as real
war scenes. These mistakes may have
further eroded trust in news, in general.
Raluca-Nicoleta Radu
University of Bucharest
C. Andrei, ‘“Coaliția lu’ Nicu și Marcel”: Momente cheie ale politicii românești în 2022 și care sunt pericolele noului an’, Europa Liberă România. https://romania.europalibera.
org/a/pericolul-anului-2023/32189451.html.
Council of Europe, ‘Romanian Journalist Emilia Şercan Victim of Smear Campaign’, Safety of Journalists Platform, 2023. https://fom.coe.int/en/alerte/detail/107637394
Media Factbook. Romania 2022. https://www.mediafactbook.ro/
* This text was corrected on 16 June 2023 to eliminate wording in the initial version that might have suggested that the group that bought HotNews would also own Recorder,
a website focused on investigative journalism, largely funded by reader donations. These two media entities have no connection whatsoever.
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0095.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Pro TV
Antena 1
Digi24
România TV
Kanal D
Realitatea Plus
Antena 3 CNN
Libertatea
TVR (public broadcaster)
Free city paper
Adevărul
Prima TV
B1 TV
Radio Europa FM
Radio România (public broadcaster)
Radio ZU
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
19
18
17
17
16
15
14
13
13
13
11
20
30
25
37
55
Digital News Report 2023 | Romania
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Pro TV News online
Digi24 online
Stiripesurse.ro
Libertatea online
Ziare.com
Adevărul online
Mediafax
România TV online
Antena 1 online
Yahoo! News
HotNews
Evenimentul Zilei
Antena 3 CNN online
Radio România online
Click online
Ziarul Financiar online
19
18
16
16
16
15
14
14
14
12
11
10
10
10
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
95
29
25
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
We introduced education quotas for the first time in
Romania as part of our programme to make data more
representative of national populations. As a result,
2023 data will be more accurate but not always
directly comparable with previous years. For example,
the source chart shows a significant drop in all sources
of news this year. Some of this drop will be related to
the fact that there are more people with lower levels
of education in our sample now, who typically have
lower interest in news.
100%
88%
84%
65%
50%
70%
61%
47%
22%
10%
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST
Only one in three members of the digital public (32%) trusts media in general.
With trust again at an all-time low, Romania serves as a case study of how
propaganda money, directed towards key newsrooms, and smear campaigns
against investigative journalists affect trust in media, media usage, and
professional pride, for the entire industry.
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Adevărul
Antena 1
Antena 3 CNN
Digi 24
Trust
54%
57%
50%
62%
52%
50%
53%
52%
67%
63%
62%
53%
48%
51%
60%
Neither Don’t Trust
26%
21%
23%
21%
27%
27%
25%
27%
17%
22%
21%
28%
22%
26%
22%
20%
22%
27%
17%
22%
22%
22%
21%
16%
15%
17%
19%
30%
23%
19%
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
Evenimentul Zilei
HotNews
Kanal D
Libertatea
Pro TV
Radio Europa FM
Radio România News
Regional or local newspaper
România TV
Știri pe surse
TVR
50%
39%
32%
32%
53
/ 180
0%
2017
2023
=36/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
69.04
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
29%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Facebook Messenger 16% (-4)
5
TikTok
6
Instagram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
55% (-8)
34% (-2)
24% (-7)
71%
65%
61%
44%
35%
32%
16% (+6)
13% (-1)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0096.png
96
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
5.5m
90%
SLOVAKIA
In a year that saw the collapse of the centre-right coalition government
elected in 2020 and the scheduling of a new poll for September, the
media scene is equally turbulent, including continued attacks on
journalists by politicians, incidents of professional and ethical failings,
and even espionage.
The long-awaited systematic reform of
Slovakia’s media legislation was finally
completed in 2022. Along with the adoption
of the law on publishers and publications
which improves ownership transparency,
parliament approved a platform-neutral
law on media services to replace the
existing broadcasting law. Designed to
adapt the state’s regulatory instruments
to a digital media ecosystem, it obliges
anyone who uses content-sharing platforms
for profit-making purposes, including
influencers, to apply to a new Council for
Media Services for authorisation.
The blocking of the controversial, pro-Russia
news website Hlavné správy under the
powers of the amended cybersecurity law
shortly after the outbreak of war in Ukraine
was lifted in July 2022. While it was blocked,
Denník N published video footage from
2021 showing a Hlavné správy journalist
receiving a bribe from a Russian embassy
employee to set up a spy network. Having
pleaded guilty in court, he was given a
three-year suspended sentence and a
€15,000 fine. Hlavné správy reacted to the
verdict by accusing several NGOs of being
‘foreign agents’ indirectly financed by the
US government.
More than 30 years after the fall of
communism, Slovakia’s PSB RTVS still
struggles to balance critical political
reporting with its duty to inform people
about political institutions.
Parliament elected �½uboš Machaj as RTVS’s
new Director General in summer 2022.
Machaj’s appointment was seen as a fresh
start after the era of Jaroslav Rezník, which
coincided with the difficult period following
the murder of investigative journalist Ján
Kuciak and complaints by RTVS journalists
that management didn’t protect them from
political pressures. His first months in charge,
however, have also been hit by controversies.
On the anniversary of 1989’s ‘gentle
revolution’ RTVS broadcast former Prime
Minister Robert Fico’s party conference
speech live and uninterrupted, which
many interpreted as an act of propaganda.
Machaj reacted by dismissing the head
of news and current affairs and several
other managers. Then the presenter of a
political discussion programme ‘Under the
lid’, investigative journalist Marek Vagovič
quit RTVS just months into a production
contract when TV bosses wanted to
remove the programme from the main
channel. They deny this was in response to
political pressure. In 2023 there is a new
state-funded system of financing for RTVS
after the liberal SAS party succeeded in
abolishing the licence fee. Opposed by
RTVS management and its supervisory
council, the move only adds to fears about
independence from political interests.
65
Verbal attacks on journalists by politicians
from opposition and government parties
continue. While some politicians defend
press freedom, journalists and media
organisations have been compared with
organised crime syndicates and accused
of corruption, media criticism has been
likened to the Nazi propaganda machine,
and female reporters are labelled
prostitutes. Early this year the female
presenter of an RTVS political discussion
programme received credible death
threats following verbal attacks against
her by a leading politician.
66
Media coverage of a double murder
outside a Bratislava gay bar,
67
which
Slovak police (for the first time ever)
classified as a terrorist crime, revealed
ethical shortcomings. The tabloid
Plus
jeden deň
was found in breach of the
Journalists’ Ethical Code by the Press
and Digital Council when it placed images
of the victims’ bodies on its front page.
The report by the Council for Media
Services concluded that journalists
sometimes lack the experience or
skills to communicate effectively
about such incidents and highlighted
serious problems with the monitoring
and moderation of online content by
digital platforms: it accused Twitter and
Facebook of failing to promptly remove
inaccurate and hateful posts after the
attack.
In response to the war in Ukraine and the
resettlement of about 110,000 refugees
during the first year of conflict, many
Slovak media launched or expanded
Ukrainian news services. RTVS already
provided minority-language programming
for the Ukrainian-speaking community
(concentrated in eastern Slovakia) but it
added a special information service for
refugees during the first months of the
crisis. TA3 runs a weekly ten-minute news
service in Ukrainian and the newspaper
SME
has a Ukrainian version of its news
portal. Denník N produced a special print
edition in Ukrainian and ran a podcast
about Ukrainian culture and history and
ties with Slovakia.
Andrea Chlebcová Hečková
Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra
Simon Smith
Charles University, Prague
65
66
67
https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/slovakia-licence-fee-axing/
https://spectator.sme.sk/c/23021323/journalists-reject-matovics-attacks.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63267451
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2841850_0097.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TV JOJ
TV Markíza
RTVS (public broadcaster)
TA3
Rádio Expres
Nov�½ Čas
SME
Plus 7 dní
Fun rádio
Rádio Vlna
Pravda
Rádio Europa 2
Denník N
Regional or local newspaper
Plus jeden deň
13
11
11
11
10
10
7
7
7
19
34
29
45
44
40
Digital News Report 2023 | Slovakia
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
aktuality.sk
topky.sk
tvnoviny.sk
sme.sk
cas.sk
ta3.com
pravda.sk
spravy.rtvs.sk
noviny.sk
refresher.sk
dennikn.sk
startitup.sk
pluska.sk
hnonline.sk
dnes24.sk
hlavnespravy.sk
23
20
19
18
18
17
15
13
13
12
12
10
9
7
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
97
41
29
Rádio Jemné
6
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
The list of top brands is relatively stable. Among those
who say they actively avoid news (37%), Ukraine,
health (including COVID-19), and race or gender issues
are (probably for very different reasons) the biggest
turn-offs.
100%
86%
79%
58%
50%
74%
62%
51%
12%
TRUST
29%
12%
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Aktuality
Denník N
Hospodárske noviny
Nov�½ Čas
Trust
47%
37%
48%
30%
34%
42%
49%
31%
48%
54%
41%
56%
30%
46%
42%
Neither Don’t Trust
25%
26%
28%
26%
28%
29%
27%
34%
31%
20%
27%
22%
28%
24%
21%
28%
37%
24%
44%
38%
28%
24%
36%
22%
25%
32%
23%
42%
30%
36%
Very low trust (27%) in news in general reflects decades of interference by business
and political leaders. TV stations, including the public broadcaster RTVS, tend to
enjoy relatively high levels of trust, whereas digital-only brands are less trusted, even
when they have high reach (e.g. Topky). However, one digital-only brand, Aktuality,
stands out for its high reach and relatively high trust.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
Plus*
Pravda
Rádio Expres
Refresher
Regional or local newspaper
RTVS (public broadcaster)
SME
TA3
Topky
TV JOJ
TV Markiza
50%
27%
0%
2017
2023
27%
27%
17
/ 180
44/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
83.22
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
* Last year we asked about Plus 7 dní not the wider Plus brand
28%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
4
Instagram
5
WhatsApp
6
Telegram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
48% (-6)
25% (-2)
71%
63%
49%
11% (-4)
9%
(-)
5% (+2)
32%
33%
11%
3
Facebook Messenger 15% (-2)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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98
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
47m
93%
SPAIN
Spain has a lively commercial news market with particularly intense
competition in the online arena. The leading newspaper brands,
El País
and
El Mundo,
are succeeding with digital subscriptions, but
are challenged by free news sites, such as 20 Minutos. Digital-born
publications are achieving critical mass despite fragmented news
consumption by increasingly distrustful and news-wary users.
One of the most significant changes was
that, for the first time, a greater number
of Spaniards accessed the internet
(84.3%) than watched television (83.3%),
according to the Association for Media
Research (AIMC). In 2022, the number
of minutes per day spent watching TV
reached a 30-year low.
The decline of the print media sector
continued, and the total number of
newspaper readers fell below 6 million.
According to AIMC, the sector has lost
60% of its readers over the last decade.
Since 2019, the main Spanish news
outlets have sought new revenues by
charging for news online. According to
self-reported figures,
El País
leads in
numbers of digital subscribers (with
300,000, of whom 264,000 are digital-
only subscribers), followed by
El Mundo
(115,000),
La Vanguardia
(77,000), and
the digital-born elDiario.es (61,000).
While the number of subscribers has
increased (and particularly dramatically
so in the case of
El País),
the main Spanish
news brands are still heavily reliant on
advertising revenue. Also, in late 2022,
monthly audiences for three digital-
born brands launched or relaunched
in 2021 (El Debate, The Objective, and
El Periódico de España) increased
significantly into the millions, to the point
of coming close to the well-established
websites in our ranking.
Financial pressures have forced most
publishing groups to respond, either by
strengthening their digital subscription
strategies, as with the Vocento group
or the
Ara
newspaper, or by redesigning
their digital and print editions such as
El Mundo
or 20 Minutos, which both
upgraded their websites to adopt a
more serious look. Vocento group also
launched Relevo, a new digital sports
newspaper, aimed at younger audiences.
The audiovisual sector underwent
significant legal and market changes.
The provisions of the new Audiovisual
Communication Law (LGCA) extend the
scope of those covered by regulation
far beyond broadcast TV. For the first
time, video streaming and sharing
platforms and the most significant
influencers such as vloggers are subject
to regulation. This will require them to
be registered with the government as
suppliers of audiovisual services, assume
new obligations to protect minors,
add age ratings to content, and label
advertisements correctly.
The new legislation changes the financing
of PSB RTVE. As with the 2009 law,
free-to-air commercial operators (mainly
Atresmedia and Mediaset) hand over
3% of their gross revenue, with a total
cap now set at 15% of RTVE’s forecast
revenue. Now video-on-demand over-
the-top (OTT) services like Netflix, HBO,
or Amazon Prime, and video exchange
services such as YouTube, Instagram,
and Twitch, will also contribute, with
1.5% of their gross revenue in Spain, as
traditional pay TV services have done
since 2009, with an overall cap of 20%
of RTVE’s predicted income.
68
Under
the previous law, telecommunications
operators also used to fund RTVE with a
0.9% tax on their gross revenues, which
resulted in €125–140m annually since
2009.
69
Now their only contribution to
RTVE will be based on their subscription
TV and streaming video business.
RTVE has been lagging behind
commercial competitors, such as
Antena 3 and Telecinco on TV, and
COPE, SER, and Onda Cero in news
and talk radio, and it has gained a big
increase in public funding and new
leadership to improve its performance.
RTVE has been allocated €530 million
in the 2023 state budget, the largest
amount since 2011. Elena Sánchez
was appointed to replace José Manuel
Pérez Tornero as president, with the
challenge of improving its audience
ratings, and the PSB is recruiting for over
a thousand new permanent positions
across the company. This expansion has
already been reflected in strengthened
international coverage, such as reporting
on the war in Ukraine and live specials on
elections in Brazil, France, and Italy.
The Spanish media market in 2022 saw
trials with streaming content during the
Qatar World Cup, with mixed results
for Twitch experiments.
El País
and El
Confidencial launched video channels on
free ad-supported streaming television
platforms. The former leader of left-wing
populist political party Podemos and now
influential commentator Pablo Iglesias,
with support from media mogul Jaume
Roures, launched his daily programme
La Base on
Público’s
site and YouTube
channel, where he criticised journalists
and announced his planned online
television channel, Canal Red.
Alfonso Vara-Miguel, Samuel Negredo,
Elsa Moreno, Jürg Kaufmann,
and
Avelino Amoedo
University of Navarra
68
69
https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2022-11311
https://www.lainformacion.com/espana/tribunal-constitucional-cierra-puerta-telecos-tasa-rtve-voto-particular/2876955/ https://www.huffingtonpost.es/-15.html;
https://www.elmundo.es/economia/empresas/2021/05/07/609572b6fc6c83837a8b45e6.html
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Antena 3 News
RTVE (public broadcaster)
LaSexta News
Telecinco News
Regional/local public TV/radio news
Cuatro News
Regional or local newspaper
El País
COPE News
Regional/local private TV/radio news
El Mundo
Cadena SER News
20 Minutos
ABC
Onda Cero
Marca (sports)
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
15
14
13
12
11
11
10
9
8
7
7
17
24
23
22
42
Axis Line
Digital News Report 2023 | Spain
on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
20 Minutos online
El País online
15
15
12
12
12
12
11
10
10
10
9
9
9
9
8
7
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
99
Regional or local newspaper online
El Mundo online
Antena 3 online
OKDiario
elDiario.es
Regional/local public TV/radio news online
Marca online
El Con dencial
Other digital-born news website
RTVE online
La Vanguardia online
ABC online
Regional/local private TV/radio news online
Libertad Digital
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
The leading online site 20 Minutos, which was
acquired by former regional group Henneo in 2015,
has a growing readership that is well balanced in all
socio-demographic criteria (gender, age, income, and
education). It has also kept daily print editions in the
four largest cities.
100%
79%
72%
61%
50%
74%
56%
50%
13%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
45%
28%
25%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
20 Minutos
ABC
Antena 3
Cadena SER
Trust
40%
41%
51%
47%
45%
44%
46%
37%
39%
42%
42%
33%
52%
48%
32%
Neither Don’t Trust
35%
29%
25%
27%
25%
28%
28%
37%
35%
32%
25%
30%
31%
26%
25%
25%
30%
24%
26%
30%
28%
26%
25%
26%
26%
33%
37%
17%
26%
43%
Mixed results: although the loss of trust in news in general has halted (at 33%) for the
first time since 2017, distrust has reached its highest figure (40%) in the nine years
covered by our survey, especially high among under-45s. At the same time, however,
trust in many of the main news brands has increased significantly, by around 4–5pp,
year-on-year.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
COPE
El Mundo
El País
ElConfidencial.com
elDiario.es
La Vanguardia
LaSexta
OKdiario.com
Regional or local newspaper
RTVE (public broadcaster)
Telecinco
50%
34%
0%
33%
33%
36
/ 180
2015
2023
=33/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
75.37
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
41%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
Instagram
4
YouTube
5
Twitter
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
30% (-5)
27% (-5)
21% (+4)
58%
79%
55%
21% (+3)
18% (-1)
10% (+5)
63%
30%
30%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0100.png
100
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
10.2m
97%
SWEDEN
Swedish commercial news publishers have seen advertising revenues
diminish over the years. They mostly rely on reader revenues, with
Swedes being relatively positive about paying for news online. The
relative importance of social media for distribution has declined.
Sweden is marked by near universal
broadband access and extensive mobile
internet penetration. Digital media
have become an integral part of Swedes’
everyday life, and this includes, but
is not limited to, turning to internet-
enabled devices such as smartphones
and laptops to enjoy media content
such as music, books, and video, and to
get informed about the news, as well as
communicating and carrying out tasks.
In addition, so-called alternative news
media – news sites that see themselves,
or are perceived, as offering a corrective
to the mainstream news media
70
have
become influential among a substantial
portion of the population.
Commercial news publishers as well
as PSM institutions Swedish Television
(SVT) and Swedish Radio (SR) have
focused on their online presence, as well
as cross-promoting some of their news
and content on social media platforms.
SVT has succeeded in securing a strong
position in online news and has taken the
plunge in shifting a lot of news investment
out of broadcast into digital content.
SR has developed native podcasts and
SVT new video formats aimed at young
people. Commercial publishers such as
Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Industri
are also investing in podcasts and new
audio formats.
Sharing news online is reported by
23%. Facebook is still the biggest social
network overall but has become less
important for news – down 5 percentage
points this year to 24%. Publishers vary
in their approaches to platforms, some
being cautious about spending efforts
that make them dependent on platforms
non-proprietary to them, whereas others
are keener on building presence on a
diverse set of platforms.
A major reason why publishers have
developed a platform presence has to
do with their efforts to reach out to the
young and young adults. The relationship
between publishers and platforms is
complex. On the one hand platforms
can help publishers extend reach. But
publishers are concerned about platforms
benefiting from the data generated by
their users and reaping much of the value
from publishers, and thus want to reduce
their dependence on them.
Publishers have increasingly turned to
developing reader revenue strategies,
and the
Digital News Report
findings
show that 33% of Swedes pay for news,
one of the highest figures in the survey.
Overall, the most successful in terms
of reader revenues are the evening
tabloids
Aftonbladet
and
Expressen,
and
the subscription-based
Dagens Nyheter
and
Svenska Dagbladet,
all of which have
national coverage. Some brands like
Aftonbladet
try to mix free and premium
content to maintain reach (47% online
weekly) but also bring in subscribers
using premium news and other content
such as health, fitness, and weight
management. Importantly, the loyalty
of online news subscriptions differs from
print subscriptions insofar as there are
often special offers for trial subscriptions,
and subscribers may well try these out
for a relatively short period of time. From
2021 to 2022 the overall revenues for
digital subscriptions for Swedish news
publishers (excluding evening tabloids)
increased by 15%. Importantly, digital
subscriptions totalled €132m, whereas
print subscription revenues were €418m.
Overall, digital subscriptions thus
account for around one quarter of all
reader revenues.
71
In 2021 69% of all Swedish advertising
spend went to digital advertising.
However, 72% of that digital investment
went to search engines and social media
platforms. In 2021 overall advertising
expenditure increased to €4.64bn,
meaning that publishers generally
broke even on their own after years in
which they were very dependent on
subsidies, especially during the pandemic.
Throughout 2022 the Swedish newspaper
association has reported continuous
growth in advertising revenues.
72
In spite
of this, over the longer term publishers
have struggled financially and in recent
years have repeatedly shrunk their
operations in efforts to reduce costs.
As so much advertising revenue goes to
the platform companies, many Swedish
commercial news publishers are still
dependent on subsidies and other
support from the authorities. Swedish
authorities are currently exploring how
to design a reformed subsidy programme
that can sustain news across the whole
country, and that is better matched with
a news industry increasingly focused
on reader revenues.
Oscar Westlund
Oslo Metropolitan University and University
of Gothenburg
70
71
72
K. Holt, T. U. Figenschou, L. Frischlich. 2019. ‘Key Dimensions of Alternative News Media’,
Digital Journalism
7(7), 860–9.
Swedish Newspaper Association/Tidningsutgivarna: email correspondence with Kajsa Holm, 3 Apr. 2023.
https://dagspress.se/aktuellt/q3-2022-morgonpressens-annonsintakter-starktes-av-valet/
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
SVT News (public television)
TV4
SR News (public radio)
A onbladet
Regional or local newspaper
Expressen
Dagens Nyheter
Svenska Dagbladet
CNN
BBC News
9
7
7
14
10
21
20
35
47
53
Digital News Report 2023 | Sweden
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
A onbladet online
SVT News online
Expressen online
33
32
19
18
16
14
12
12
9
9
8
8
47
101
Regional or local newspaper website
TV4 News online
Dagens Nyheter online
Nyheter 24 (News 24)
SR Nyheter online
Svenska Dagbladet online
Dagens Industri online
Göteborgs-Posten online
BBC News online
Dagens Industri
6
Göteborgs-Posten
6
Other news media from outside Sweden
Sydsvenska Dagbladet
ETC
5
5
3
Nyheter Idag
Fria Tider
6
Samhällsnytt
6
CNN.com
6
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Sweden is a digitally developed country. Online,
including social media, is the leading source of news,
but social media use for news has declined 10pp since
2018. Public service organisations (SVT and SR) and
commercial news companies have significant user
reach online.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
89%
72%
56%
50%
84%
62%
43%
25%
43%
33%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
44%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Aftonbladet
Dagens Industri
Dagens Nyheter
Expressen
Trust
54%
69%
67%
53%
28%
48%
72%
27%
42%
40%
37%
67%
75%
75%
63%
Neither Don’t Trust
19%
20%
19%
22%
21%
31%
17%
23%
29%
30%
29%
21%
12%
11%
20%
27%
11%
15%
25%
51%
21%
12%
50%
28%
30%
33%
12%
13%
14%
16%
Overall trust in news remains at 50%. Trust increased markedly after 2020, probably
due to COVID-19, but Sweden sustained that increase whereas elsewhere it generally
fell back. Three out of four Swedes express trust in public broadcasters SVT and SR.
There is also relatively high trust in local newspapers, which still play an important
part in the Swedish media landscape.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2016–23
100%
Fria Tider
Ledarsidorna
Local or regional newspaper
Nya Tider
Nyheter 24
Nyheter Idag
Samhällsnytt
Svenska Dagbladet
Sveriges Radio (SR) News
Sveriges Television (SVT) News
TV4 News
50%
40%
50%
50%
4
/ 180
0%
2016
2023
10/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
88.15
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
23%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Instagram
4
Facebook Messenger 9%
5
Twitter
6
WhatsApp
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
24% (-5)
15% (-1)
12%
(-)
68%
60%
56%
(-2)
(-)
51%
18%
25%
8% (+1)
5%
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2841850_0102.png
102
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
8.8m
96%
SWITZERLAND
News media in Switzerland operate in linguistically distinct and
relatively small markets. The public broadcaster remains strong
but is under attack on several fronts. Meanwhile co-operation and
concentration between and within commercial media companies
are becoming increasingly important features of Switzerland’s
media system.
A move to centralised newsrooms
producing content shared across multiple,
previously separate distinct regional
outlets, has become the norm at Tamedia
(publishing brands like
Tages-Anzeiger)
and CH Media (with brands like
Aargauer
Zeitung).
While this undoubtedly leads
to more efficient use of resources, many
worry about the impact of these moves
on the quality and distinctiveness of the
regional press and its repercussions for
informed participation in Switzerland’s
vitally important direct democracy.
Swiss publishers are also hoping to
increase efficiency through greater
co-operation. The four largest media
companies are expanding their joint
industry project OneLog to provide
users with a single login for online news
content – both free and paid – from
multiple providers. Switzerland’s public
broadcaster SRG SSR is co-operating with
this commercial media initiative. The
publishers hope that OneLog might help
them gather their own user data, thereby
compensating for the impact of privacy-
inspired moves to limit third-party cookies
and allowing them to compete better with
platforms for attention and advertising.
The public broadcaster SRG SSR, whose
SRF and RTS brands continue to be the
most used and most trusted brands, is
facing renewed pressure on multiple
fronts. It has lost important sports rights
to private competitors. A referendum on
halving the public broadcast licence fee
is looming, with right-wing politicians
currently collecting signatures to trigger
one. If this more limited referendum occurs
– which would not happen until 2025 – the
proposal seems likely to gather greater
support than the complete abolition of
the licence fee, which was rejected in the
2018 referendum.
The federal government is also expected
to change the broadcaster’s remit,
possibly in response to pressure from
private media and politicians who want
the SRG SSR to reduce its sports and
entertainment section and text-based
news on its websites.
Faced with stagnating levels of paying for
online news (17% in 2023) commercial
media companies are looking for new
revenue sources and have been lobbying
for policies to make platforms pay
copyright fees for link previews and
news snippets. The government seems
receptive to these calls, but action could
take two to three years. Meanwhile, the
political situation makes public subsidies
for commercial media extremely unlikely.
Swiss citizens rejected a package of
support measures in a referendum in early
2022, and shortly afterwards parliament
voted down even limited indirect subsidies
to technological infrastructure for online
news media.
Media companies have been in the
spotlight in other ways as well. First, a
‘leaks affair’ dominated the headlines
in early 2023. A CH Media-owned news
outlet published leaked material which
allegedly showed that a press officer
working for a government minister
(currently Switzerland’s president) had
repeatedly leaked sensitive information
on COVID-related measures to the CEO
of the media company Ringier – a touchy
subject in a country where consensus and
confidentiality among the members of
the coalition government is considered
essential.
Second, media companies and some of
their high-level editors and journalists
are increasingly criticised for creating
toxic working environments. While it
is unclear which types of misconduct
actually occurred, these cases are often
accompanied by labels such as #metoo
or #mediatoo and thus perceived as
issues of sexual harassment and abuse.
Whether or not as a direct result from
these scandals, both Tamedia (TX Group)
and Ringier have recently shaken up their
senior editorial teams.
Publishers are pursuing different digital
strategies in terms of channels and
formats. CH Media, for instance, is focused
more on an on-site strategy, bundling its
previously distinct regional newspaper,
radio, and TV programmes into cross-media
online brands. By contrast, 20 Minuten,
Switzerland’s largest brand online, is
adapting more to the platforms, replacing
its ‘video first’ strategy with a ‘social media
first’ one. 20 Minuten and the public
broadcaster have both built up substantial
audiences not only on Facebook but also
increasingly on newer platforms such as
Instagram and TikTok.
Some forms of artificial intelligence (AI)
have entered journalism, such as the
personalisation of the news site blick.ch
or the 20 Minuten app offering automatic
translations into nine languages, including
those of immigrant communities. Use
of truly generative AI is limited to a few
players. However, with the advent of
ChatGPT in particular, AI is firmly on
the agenda and media managers and
journalists expect it to profoundly
reshape journalism in the years to come.
Linards Udris
and
Mark Eisenegger
Research Center for the Public Sphere & Society
(fög), Department of Communication and
Media Research (IKMZ)/University of Zurich
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0103.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Digital
on both layers:
Axis Line on both layers:
Axis Line
News Report 2023 | Switzerland
103
0.5pt stroke weight
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
Rounded ends
90% CMYK Black
90%
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
(FRENCH SPEAKING)
CMYK Black
ONLINE
(FRENCH SPEAKING)
RTS news (public broadcaster)
20 Minutes
French private TV news
French public TV news
Private radio news
Le Matin Dimanche
24 heures
Regional or local newspaper
Le Temps
Tribune de Genève
Private TV news
Le Nouvelliste
15
14
13
11
10
9
9
9
29
24
43
64
20 Minutes online
RTS News online
Le Matin online
Blue News
24 heures.ch
Teletext online
Blick online
Le Nouvelliste online
MSN News
Le Temps online
9
8
8
8
17
16
14
14
10
30
47
RTS TV News:
52%
Yahoo! News
RTS Radio News:
34%
Regional or local newspapers online
7
17%
Axis Line on both layers:
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
Rounded ends
90% CMYK Black
90%
ONLINE
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
(GERMAN SPEAKING)
CMYK Black
SRF news (public broadcaster)
Text:
20 Minuten
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
German public TV news
90% CMYK Black
German private TV news
Private TV news
Blick
Private radio news
Regional or local newspapers
Tages-Anzeiger
BBC News
7
SonntagsZeitung
6
Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
6
10
59
Numbers:
37Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
20 Minuten online
Text:
SRF News online
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Blick online
90% CMYK Black
Watson
Blue News
nau.ch
Teletext online
NZZ online
Regional or local newspapers online
GMX
10
9
9
9
29
25
20
15
15
11
(GERMAN SPEAKING)
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
45
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
French 20% | German 16%
20
18
17
17
15
14
36%
TRUST
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
French 35% | German 37%
SRF TV News:
40%
Tages-Anzeiger online
BBC News online
6
SRF Radio News:
37%
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
Text:
100%
Overall trust levels have moved up and down in recent
Pro Light
Tisa Sans
6pt w/ -20 tracking
years and have now fallen by 4pp. Brands from the
90% CMYK Black
public broadcaster remain the most trusted in both
German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland,
50%
followed by subscription-based newspaper brands.
Less trust is placed in tabloids, digital-born brands, and
news from email providers (Bluewin, MSN, Yahoo, gmx).
0%
82%
69%
63%
47%
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
Online (incl. social media)
TV
Numbers:
Social media
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Print
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
76%
51%
39%
34%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST IN NEWS 2016–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey so it should not be treated as a list
of the most or least trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
FRENCH
50%
50%
Brand
GERMAN
Trust Neither Don’t
Trust
54%
59%
47%
41%
51%
56%
50%
63%
28%
50%
52%
67%
71%
56%
26%
23%
29%
38%
39%
36%
26%
36%
26%
37%
35%
33%
23%
20%
32%
39%
23%
13%
15%
20%
13%
19%
14%
11%
34%
15%
15%
10%
10%
11%
35%
Brand
20 Minuten
Aargauer Zeitung
Blick
Blue News
gmx
MSN News
NZZ
NZZ am Sonntag
Private radio news
Private television news
(e.g. Tele Züri)
SonntagsZeitung
SRF News
Tages Anzeiger
Watson
Trust Neither Don’t
Trust
50%
57%
38%
47%
35%
37%
66%
65%
58%
61%
23%
26%
23%
31%
37%
32%
20%
21%
26%
22%
21%
23%
15%
20%
27%
28%
17%
40%
21%
28%
31%
14%
14%
16%
17%
12%
17%
12%
14%
27%
42%
=17/46 markets
0%
42%
20 Minutes
24 heures
Arcinfo
Blue News
La Liberté
Le Matin
Le Nouvelliste
Le Temps
MSN
French 41%
2016
2023
German 43%
Note: Not all country pages have the same range of
the time’
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of
years. Some may start later than others.
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
1
WhatsApp
2
YouTube
3
Facebook
4
Instagram
5
Twitter
6
TikTok
For News
For All
Private radio news
Private TV news
Regional or local
newspaper
RTS News
Tribune de Genève
Yahoo! News
Regional or local newspaper 67%
60%
73%
66%
45%
26% (-4)
24%
(-)
75%
61%
51%
42%
13%
17%
22% (-5)
15%
7%
6%
(-)
(+1)
(+1)
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following brands is? Please use the scale below,
where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and 10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6-10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0-4 coded as ‘Don’t Trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand were excluded. Whether respondents
consider a brand trustworthy is their subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not an
objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
84.4
12
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0104.png
104
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
86m
85%
TURKEY
After toughly fought elections, Turkey’s strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
came out narrowly on top as president, despite concerns about soaring
inflation and his government’s handling of the aftermath of devastating
earthquakes. The media, which is largely controlled by the president
and his supporters, played a key role in his re-election, with access to
critical voices on digital and social media also regularly restricted.
In the run-up to elections, the country was
still coming to terms with the impact of
February’s devastating earthquakes that
claimed more than 50,000 lives. Social
media and messaging apps have played a
crucial role in making the cries for help of
the earthquake victims – as well as their
friends and families – heard both from
beneath the rubble and in the ensuing
recovery period.
In 2023, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
described the government as pursuing
a policy of ‘near systematic censorship
on the internet’, and following the
earthquake, internet users were subject
to major access restrictions which were
also criticised for interfering with rescue
operations and relief efforts. On the
third day of the earthquake, Twitter was
temporarily blocked while many survivors
trapped under the rubble were still actively
tweeting details about their location,
health condition, and urgent needs. The
Deputy Transportation and Infrastructure
Minister tweeted from his account to
report on a formal meeting with Twitter to
remind the platform of its responsibilities
and to request co-operation in tackling
disinformation and fake accounts, and
preventing what he termed threats
to public order from the circulation of
sensitive content and information about
earthquake casualties and survivors.
The second ban, introduced on 21
February 2023 and which remains in
effect (in April 2023), targeted Ekşi
Sözlük, a popular online discussion forum
that relies on user contributions on user-
initiated topics, allegedly for entries about
the earthquake.
73
These bans related to the earthquake
follow existing clampdowns. In June 2022,
when Voice of America and Deutsche
Welle’s Turkish-language websites were
blocked on the grounds they had not
applied for broadcast licences as requested
by the Radio and Television Supreme
Council (RTÜK), RTÜK suggested in a
public statement that they would request
the termination of the website blocks once
the brands complied with Turkish laws;
Deutsche Welle representatives reported
considering the licensing as a form of
government censorship on their
editorial content.
74
In the first half of 2022, government
proposed measures against so-called
disinformation provoked vigorous
debates on their implications for internet
users’ freedom of expression. Then, in
October 2022, the parliament ratified
the ‘Disinformation Bill’ which defines
‘publicly spreading disinformation’ as
a criminal offence, despite concerns
openly expressed by the critics, press
freedom watchdogs, and the Council of
Europe.
75
The controversial law is very
broadly drawn and suggests that those
who intentionally publish fake news or
misleading information that spreads
panic or endangers security forces or the
overall health of the Turkish society could
be jailed for up to three years. In addition,
prescribed maximum sentences can be
increased by up to 50% if the alleged
act of disinformation is carried out using
an anonymous account or as part of an
organisation’s activities.
In the month after the law coming
into force, a bomb explosion killing six
people in the historic İstiklal Street in
İstanbul was followed by an immediate
government broadcast ban, making it very
difficult for mass media outlets to share
up-to-date details about the incident.
As anonymous footage with graphic
content from the scene (along with some
from other unconnected incidents) had
already started to circulate on social
media platforms and messaging apps,
the government limited the bandwidth of
internet within two hours of the attack,
which made it difficult for citizens to access
sources other than those from the already
restricted mass media.
With the country ranked 165th out of 180
countries reviewed by RSF in 2023, and
with 90% of the national media reported
to be under government control, the
public has turned increasingly to critical
or independent media outlets according
to RSF. These include traditional media
brands such as Fox TV, Halk TV,
Cumhuriyet,
and
Sözcü,
as well as international websites.
Recently, broadcasts by Halk TV, Fox TV,
and TELE1 received up to 5% administrative
fines by RTÜK for reasons ranging from
‘praising a criminal’, for displaying a book by
Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair
of People’s Democratic Party (HDP) who
has been under arrest since 2016, to ‘failing
to be objective’ or ‘making humiliating
remarks’ in covering the post-quake
response efforts.
76
Nic Newman
Senior Research Associate, Reuters Institute
73
74
75
76
https://m.bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/274868-this-is-censorship-eksi-sozluk-ceo-slams-access-ban-vows-to-take-legal-action
https://www.rtuk.gov.tr/kamuoyunun-dikkatine-/4346
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/13/turkey-new-disinformation-law-could-jail-journalists-for-3-years
https://m.bianet.org/english/media/276147-five-major-tv-outlets-fined-by-rtuk
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2841850_0105.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
FOX TV News
Show TV
CNN Türk
ATV News
Kanal D News
Sözcü
Habertürk TV
TRT News (public broadcaster)
Star TV
Halk TV
NTV
Hürriyet
Sabah
A Haber
Cumhuriyet
Milliyet
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
27
27
26
26
25
24
24
22
22
21
20
20
19
16
15
51
Digital News Report 2023 | Turkey
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Sondakika.com
Fox TV News online
Sözcü online
Mynet
Habertürk online
Haberler.com
Halk TV online
CNN Türk online
İnternethaber.com
Hürriyet online
TRT News online
Ensonhaber.com
ATV News online
NTV online
Kanal D News online
Milliyet online
21
19
19
18
17
17
17
16
16
15
14
14
14
13
29
29
105
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
While online and social media sources combined are
preferred for news, print and television news continue
to decline. YouTube (45%) and Instagram (40%) are the
main social networks for news and Twitter (26%) lags
behind Facebook (33%) and WhatsApp (28%).
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
88%
75%
67%
50%
75%
56%
54%
50%
21%
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST
Overall trust in news remains stable at 35%. With most of the media estimated by
RSF to be under government control, brand-level trust is heavily influenced by
political orientation. Fox TV, with the largest offline reach, is the most trusted brand
according to our respondents and another brand known for its oppositional stance,
Cumhuriyet,
scores high on trust.
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
A Haber
ATV
CNN Türk
Cumhuriyet
Trust
36%
37%
49%
51%
58%
48%
49%
40%
41%
39%
49%
37%
39%
48%
48%
Neither Don’t Trust
18%
20%
22%
24%
19%
27%
23%
27%
27%
28%
26%
24%
27%
25%
18%
46%
44%
29%
25%
24%
26%
29%
33%
32%
33%
25%
39%
34%
27%
34%
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
FOX TV News
Habertürk
Halk TV
Hürriyet
Kanal D News
Milliyet
NTV News
Sabah
Show TV News
Sözcü
TRT News
50%
34%
0%
35%
35%
165
For News
2015
2023
=28/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
33.97
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
43%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
YouTube
2
Instagram
3
Facebook
4
WhatsApp
5
Twitter
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
45% (+2)
40% (-)
33% (+1)
70%
65%
54%
28% (-3)
26% (-9)
10% (+2)
68%
37%
22%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0106.png
106
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
SECTION 3
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2841850_0107.png
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
107
SECTION 3
Analysis by Country and Market
Americas
AMERICAS
EUROPE
3.25 United States
3.26 Argentina
3.27 Brazil
3.28 Canada
3.29 Chile
3.30 Colombia
3.31
Mexico
3.32 Peru
108
110
112
114
116
118
120
122
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2841850_0108.png
108
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
331m
90%
UNITED STATES
A string of major stories dominated headlines and drove news interest
in the United States over the last year, including the war in Ukraine, the
landmark Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right
to abortion, and the 2022 midterm elections. Meanwhile, US news
organisations have faced another wave of layoffs and downsizing.
Tentative evidence suggests that
both news interest and news trust are
rebounding in the US after significant
drops last year. Our 2023 US survey
finds that 73% of respondents report
accessing news at least once per day, up
6 percentage points from the previous
year, while interest in news has recovered
slightly, and trust rebounded by 6pp
after last year’s lows. Although news
engagement remains well below peaks
at the height of the COVID pandemic and
the 2020 election, recent increases hint
at a recovery from the wave of ‘tuning
out’ that followed the Trump presidency.
Despite this, the news industry continues
to reel from economic woes following
the pandemic, with multiple rounds of
large-scale layoffs. In December 2022,
Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in
the country, announced that it would cut
6% of its company’s US media division,
around 200 jobs, including employees
at
USA Today, The Indianapolis Star,
and
The Detroit Free Press.
This move followed the elimination of
400 jobs at Gannett publications the
previous August. It also reflects continued
challenges facing the local-news sector.
According to the
State of Local News 2022
report from Northwestern University,
more than 360 newspapers closed in the
US between late 2019 and May 2022,
and all but 24 were weekly newspapers
serving small to mid-size communities.
Efforts to preserve local news are
multiplying, however. These include non-
profit and diversified commercial business
models, start-up labs, local and national
funding opportunities, and moves back to
local ownership.
The national picture is similarly grim.
CNN has announced layoffs affecting
hundreds of employees, as well as the
end of live programming on HLN, CNN’s
sister channel. National Public Radio
cut 10% of its staff and discontinued
production on four popular podcasts
in an effort to address a $30m budget
deficit. Vox Media, the umbrella
company for brands such as Vox.com,
SB Nation,
New York Magazine,
Vulture,
and NowThis, laid off 7% of its workforce
in December 2022, a total of about 130
jobs. And then, in April 2023, BuzzFeed
closed its entire news division, citing lack
of support from big platforms, marking
the end of an era for a model of digital-
born journalism that had once attracted
significant investor backing for its
promises to upend the industry.
In April 2023 Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News
agreed to pay $787.5m in an out-of-court
settlement of a defamation lawsuit from
the voting machine company, Dominion.
The company argued that its business
had been harmed by the network
spreading false claims that the 2020
presidential vote had been rigged against
Donald Trump. A few days later Fox
dispensed with the services of star
prime-time host Tucker Carlson, while
over at CNN anchor Don Lemon was fired
after a string of controversies over on-air
comments and treatment of female
colleagues. Amid falling ratings, cable
TV news is looking to reposition itself
after the controversy-fuelled highs
of the Trump years.
Meanwhile, unionisation efforts remain
a notable trend in US newsrooms, from
local newspapers to national magazines
to TV stations to digital natives. Pew
Research reported in August 2022
that one in six US journalists is a union
member and more suggested they would
join a union if it were available.
77
Interest
and membership in unions is more
prevalent among younger journalists
(ages 18–29) as well as among women
and journalists of colour.
The news industry has also seen many
bright spots. Poynter reported that,
although pageviews and unique visitors
for local newspaper sites fell 20%
in 2022, subscriptions rose among
small, medium, and large newspapers.
Data from the Medill Subscriber
Engagement Index showed increases
in subscriptions from September
2021 to August 2022 for eight large
metropolitan daily newspapers, including
the
Philadelphia Inquirer,
the
Boston
Globe,
and the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
The
New York Times
also continues to
see digital growth, adding more than
1 million digital-only subscribers in
2022, bringing its total number to 9.6
million. Subscription gains are not
universal, however, as some publishers,
including the
Washington Post,
have seen
stagnation and even declines.
Big tech companies have faced their own
woes this year; Facebook has laid off more
than a quarter of its workforce as its pivot
to the metaverse falters, while TikTok has
been blocked by public institutions across
the country as many lawmakers call for
it to be banned outright as a national
security risk. Meanwhile, journalists
and researchers continue to debate the
challenges and opportunities of AI for
journalism, with BuzzFeed’s lifestyle
verticals using it to create travel guides
and quizzes – and Bloomberg launching
its own GPT tool. Tech news outlet CNET
published corrections on a series of AI-
generated stories after Futurism.com
pointed out errors.
Joy Jenkins
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Lucas Graves
University of Wisconsin-Madison
77
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/08/04/about-one-in-six-u-s-journalists-at-news-outlets-are-part-of-a-union-many-more-would-join-one-if-they-could/
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2841850_0109.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Local television news
Fox News
CNN
NBC/MSNBC News
ABC News
CBS News
Local radio news
Regional or local newspaper
BBC News
USA Today
New York Times
NPR News
PBS News
A city-based paper
11
10
10
9
8
8
8
19
19
18
18
14
27
23
Digital News Report 2023 | United States
109
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
17
17
16
14
13
11
11
11
10
10
9
8
8
8
8
8
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
Yahoo! News
CNN.com
Fox News online
Local television news sites online
New York Times online
MSN News
USA Today online
Washington Post online
NBC/MSNBC News online
BBC News online
BuzzFeed News
ABC News online
Website of a city paper
CBS News online
Wall Street Journal online
Hu Post
Washington Post
6
Wall Street Journal
6
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Americans are watching less television news each year
and printed media have been on the slide for decades,
but interest in online and social media is hotting up
again as the next presidential election cycle
approaches. Facebook remains the top social network
for news, while Twitter remains a major force despite
changes forced through by Elon Musk.
100%
75%
72%
72%
48%
48%
50%
47%
27%
21%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
41%
16%
0%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
ABC News
BBC News
BuzzFeed News
CBS News
Trust
48%
50%
30%
49%
45%
38%
37%
61%
46%
45%
46%
42%
47%
44%
36%
Neither Don’t Trust
21%
27%
32%
22%
18%
18%
29%
22%
21%
23%
22%
29%
27%
25%
32%
30%
22%
38%
29%
37%
44%
35%
18%
33%
33%
31%
29%
26%
31%
32%
Trust in news (32%) has recovered somewhat from last year’s lows – registering a 6pp
jump. If these encouraging figures reflect a slight cooling of partisan rancour in an
electoral off-year, longer term declines in news trust are likely to be reasserted during
the looming presidential race. The US remains well in the bottom half of countries
surveyed in terms of news trust.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
CNN
Fox News
HuffPost
Local television news
NBC/MSNBC News
New York Times
NPR News
USA Today
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
Yahoo! News
50%
32%
0%
32%
32%
45
2015
2023
=36/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
71.22
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
31%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Twitter
4
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
29% (+1)
24% (+5)
14% (+3)
59%
59%
25%
12% (+5)
(-1)
6% (+2)
35%
35%
19%
5
Facebook Messenger 7%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
46m
91%
ARGENTINA
The media in Argentina are characterised by concentrated private
ownership, weak public broadcasters, growing distrust in all news
outlets, and decreasing interest in news among the population in the
aftermath of COVID-19. A presidential election in 2023 could spur
public interest in information but also could see increased levels
of polarisation.
Interest in news has declined steadily
in the past six years. The percentage of
audience members who declared they
were extremely or very interested in news
went from 77% in 2017 to 43% in 2023;
9% of respondents say they have not
used any source of news in the past week,
and almost half report that they often or
sometimes actively avoid the news.
The decline of printed newspaper
circulations has continued.
Clarín,
the
top-selling print title, reported Sunday
circulation of 150,000 at the end of 2022,
down from 200,000 the year before.
78
Although digital subscriptions grew to
550,000, paywall revenues are just a
third of the combined print and digital
revenues. By comparison,
Clarín´s
main
competitor,
La Nación,
saw its digital
subscriber base increase to 365,000
in the same period. Both newspapers
announced they would be dropping their
traditional Sunday magazines in 2023
to focus on online content. Other legacy
print media, such as
Perfil, Los Andes,
and
La Voz,
have maintained their paywalls.
However, digital natives such as Cenital
and elDiarioAR have continued to rely on
membership programmes to generate
revenue.
79
These packages combine
access to news online with daily or weekly
newsletters. For instance, Cenital sends
more than 1.5 million emails a month, and
has an opening rate of 48.5%.
80
The two top online news outlets in early
2023 were Infobae, used by 38% of
respondents, and the website and apps of
cable news channel Todo Noticias (TN),
which more than three out of ten reported
having visited. Neither has a paywall or
membership system. Willingness to pay for
news remains low: only 12% of respondents
say that they have paid for online news at
all during the previous year.
Free-to-air television viewership has
continued its decline, with 19.6% average
ratings spread across all the stations
during 2022. The top TV newscast,
Telefé Noticias,
had an average rating of
10.4% throughout the year. Although
there are seven news cable stations
for a population of just over 45 million
people, their combined average rating was
8.4%.
81
Levels of television viewership
increased in November and December, as
Argentines followed the progress of their
national team in the football World Cup
in Qatar.
Print legacy media and broadcast and
cable news have tended to reflect the
country’s polarisation, as ownership of
these news outlets is concentrated in
the hands of organisations with long-
standing political relationships. For
instance, both
Clarín
and
La Nación
and their sister cable news channels
have been critical of President Alberto
Fernández and Vice-President Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner. Conversely, print-
based
Página/12,
owned by a large trade
union, and C5N, purchased in 2012 by
businessman Cristóbal López who has ties
to Ms Kirchner, have been supportive of
the government. La Televisión Pública, the
public broadcaster, cannot function as an
effective alternative to private media,
due both to its relatively low ratings and
the perception that it is biased in favour
of the government.
In this scenario of declining interest
in news, our data show that access to
information content on social media
platforms has decreased across the board:
fewer than half of respondents say they
have read news on Facebook, and only
around three out of ten report having
accessed news on Instagram, WhatsApp,
or YouTube.
Although podcasts have continued to be a
source of information for around a third of
the audience members, their uptake has
not increased. Reading and watching, in
that order, rather than listening, are still
people’s preferred ways to consume news
online. This is reflected in the increasing
number of newsletters available, both
from news organisations and individual
journalists, on topics as diverse as politics,
literature, sports, and parenting.
Although neither polarisation nor
relatively high distrust of media are
new developments, the levels of both
disinterest in news and active news
avoidance have never been higher. It
remains to be seen whether the campaign
coverage for October’s presidential
election will affect these trends.
Eugenia Mitchelstein
and
Pablo J. Boczkowski
Center for the Study of Media and Society,
Argentina (MESO)
78
79
80
81
Grupo Clarín Financial Statement 2022. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grupo-clar-n-announces-full-004500115.html
elDiarioAR ‘About Us’: https://www.eldiarioar.com/quienes-somos/
Soledad Domínguez. ‘How do Independent Media in Argentina Hold up in the Economic Crisis?’,
LatAm Journalism Review.
https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/how-do-
independent-media-in-ar
Data from Kantar IBOPE media, Argentina.
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TN (Todo Noticias)
Telefe News
Canal 13 News
C5N
A24
Clarín
Crónica TV
TV Pública (public broadcaster)
La Nación
América TV
Canal 9 News
Canal 26 News
Local or regional news TV channel
Regional or local radio news
La 100
Radio Mitre
Text:
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90% CMYK Black
22
20
18
16
16
16
16
15
13
12
9
8
7
7
35
33
Axis
Digital News Report 2023 | Argentina
Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Infobae
TN online
Clarín online
La Nación online
A24 online
TV Pública online
Minuto Uno
Olé
Página/12
CNN online
10
10
9
8
8
8
7
7
7
19
17
15
30
38
111
Regional or local newspaper online
Crónica News online
La Voz
Cadena 3 online
Ámbito
6
Primicias Ya
6
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
News consumption has declined in every medium:
news sites and apps, television, and newspapers, and
also on social media networks which had in previous
years seen growth.
100%
92%
81%
74%
77%
61%
57%
50%
45%
12%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
33%
15%
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
A24
C5N
Canal 13 News
Clarín
Trust
43%
34%
50%
41%
47%
46%
35%
31%
45%
32%
30%
42%
56%
52%
36%
Neither Don’t Trust
33%
26%
27%
27%
30%
27%
41%
41%
35%
35%
40%
37%
27%
24%
29%
24%
40%
23%
32%
23%
27%
24%
28%
21%
33%
29%
21%
17%
24%
35%
Trust in news media in general has declined 5pp, from 35% to 30%. Moreover, trust
in media sources respondents say they use has also decreased from 42% to 36%.
Argentina is among the countries with the lowest level of media trust. However,
individual brands such as
Telefé Noticias
and TN have continued to be perceived as
trustworthy by most audiences.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
Infobae
La Nación
La Voz
Minuto Uno
Olé
Página/12
Perfil
Regional or local newspaper
Telefé News
TN (Todo Noticias)
TV Pública News
50%
39%
30%
2017
2023
30%
40
/ 180
0%
=38/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
73.36
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
41%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
Instagram
3
WhatsApp
4
YouTube
5
TikTok
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
48% (-8)
32% (+1)
31% (-4)
70%
61%
78%
27%
(-)
68%
27%
19%
11% (+4)
11% (-2)
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
215m
83%
BRAZIL
Last year’s highly contested presidential elections, which were
followed by riots in the capital, seem to have taken a toll on Brazilians’
trust in the news. Yet, conversely, the close leadership battle may have
had a positive effect on the willingness of people to pay for online
news content.
The showdown between the leftist
candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and
the incumbent far-right president Jair
Bolsonaro was by far the year’s biggest
news event. It engaged the attention
of millions of Brazilians and may have
contributed to a 13-point decline in
news avoidance, down from last year’s
historical high (54%) to 41%.
Lula’s victory by a slim margin in the
run-off election held in October triggered
a series of protests across the country
that culminated in riots by Bolsonaro’s
supporters in Brasilia on 8 January. At least
16 journalists were attacked while trying to
cover the invasion of the Supreme Court,
the National Congress, and the presidential
palace.
82
More than 1,800 people were
detained in connection with the vandalism
of government buildings.
83
President Lula blamed the invasion on
a disinformation campaign which was
‘nurtured, organised, and disseminated’
through digital platforms and messaging
apps. Telegram groups and channels
were widely used, and many protesters
live-streamed events. Lula called for
the regulation of digital platforms
to guarantee individual freedom of
expression and society’s access to
‘trustworthy information’, and subsequently
proposed regulation which would make
platforms accountable for the content
published by their users. In early May, a
bill supported by the government sparked
an outcry from big tech companies. The
proposal was withdrawn before the vote
due to the lack of political support in the
House of Representatives.
The mainstream media were almost
unanimous in condemning the 8 January
attacks, labelling them as ‘anti-democratic
acts’; demonstrators were referred to as
‘terrorists’, ‘vandals’, and ‘criminals’.
After the Bolsonaro years, when the
media was routinely attacked by the
president, relations have mostly gone
back to normal. But the story is not yet
finished – by the time Bolsonaro returned
to Brazil on 30 March, there were six
cases against him at the Supreme Court,
16 at the Superior Electoral Court, and an
investigation into gifts he received from
Saudi Arabia. He denies wrongdoing.
In 2022, the number of cases involving
threats, harassment, or intimidation
against journalists grew by 133%,
according to the National Federation
of Journalists. Despite this substantial
rise, the same figures show actual verbal
or physical attacks against journalists
or news organisations falling from 430
cases in 2021 to 376 last year.
There has been a steep decline in the use
of Facebook for news – down 12 points
in two years to 35% this year – and it is
now used for news less than Instagram.
TikTok has seen more growth; the three
best-selling dailies in the country (O
Globo, Folha de S. Paulo,
and
O Estado
de S. Paulo)
have accounts, but still
have a greater number of followers on
Instagram and Twitter. The same is true
for the free-to-air broadcasters. They
are all interested in TikTok, but more
interested in other networks where it is
easier to promote existing content.
The fall in circulations for the ten best-
selling newspapers has continued – a
further 1.4% this year, as measured by
Instituto Verificador de Comunicação.
But this is not as bad as it has been
in recent years, with sales perhaps
being slightly buoyed by appetite for
news in such a turbulent year. Digital
subscriptions, which include PDF
versions of the printed edition alongside
website access, accounted for roughly
seven out of every ten copies sold
by these dailies in 2022. The daily
O
Fluminense,
which was founded in 1878
and was the oldest newspaper in the
state of Rio de Janeiro, suspended its
circulation in March due to financial
difficulties, but confounded expectations
by returning to print publication.
Most advertising money still goes into
free-to-air television, but spending on
digital advertising continues to grow
as now more than eight in ten Brazilians
have access to the internet – up more
than 5% in a year.
Brazil’s biggest media conglomerate,
Globo, which operates multiple
newspaper, magazine, and online portals,
launched a digital marketplace for selling
programmatic advertising along its own
content and also that of other media and
entertainment companies.
With growing internet penetration,
podcast listening rose slightly to
57%. Globo’s O Assunto is by far the
most popular journalistic podcast in
Brazil, with a weekly average of more
than 533,000 downloads in February,
according to Triton Digital. During the
presidential campaign in 2022, both
Lula and Bolsonaro were interviewed on
the Flow Podcast, an independent show
modelled on the Joe Rogan Experience
and hosted by interviewers who made
their name by streaming content about
gaming. It has more than 5 million
YouTube subscribers.
Rodrigo Carro
Financial journalist and former Reuters
Institute Journalist Fellow
82
83
According to information compiled by two journalists’ associations, Fenaj and Abraji.
https://g1.globo.com/df/distrito-federal/noticia/2023/03/02/video-173-presos-por-atos-terroristas-de-8-de-janeiro-sao-liberados-em-brasilia.ghtml
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TV Globo (incl. Jornal Nacional)
Record TV
TV SBT (incl. SBT Brasil)
O Globo
GloboNews (24 hour TV News)
CNN Brasil/CNN
TV Band (incl. Jornal da Band)
BandNews TV (24 hour TV news)
TV Jovem Pan News
Folha de S. Paulo
Regional or local newspaper
Free city paper
TV Brasil
Veja (news magazine)
BBC News
CBN
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
19
19
18
16
15
14
12
11
9
9
9
8
28
25
23
41
Axis Line
Digital News Report 2023 | Brazil
on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Globo News online (incl. G1)
UOL online
36
34
26
24
17
17
15
14
13
12
11
10
10
10
9
8
113
Record News online (incl. R7.com)
O Globo online
Jovem Pan News online
CNN Brasil online
Yahoo! News
Folha de S. Paulo online
Band News online
Metrópoles.com
Terra.com.br
MSN News
Regional or local newspaper online
BBC News online
Rede TV News online
Free city papers online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2013–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Consumption of traditional sources of news such as
television and print have declined significantly over the
last decade, but online news access has also dipped,
with levels of news avoidance still higher than many
other countries in our survey.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
90%
75%
50%
47%
79%
57%
51%
50%
20%
TRUST
12%
0%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Band News (incl. Jornal da Band)
Folha de S. Paulo
Globo (incl. TV Globo, GloboNews, G1)
Metrópoles.com
O Estado de S Paulo
O Globo (newspaper)
Rede TV
Regional or local newspaper
SBT News (incl. SBT Brasil)
Terra.com.br
UOL
Valor Econômico
Veja
Yahoo! News
Trust Neither Don’t Trust
60%
53%
54%
49%
53%
54%
49%
58%
61%
50%
55%
51%
51%
48%
20%
20%
16%
29%
20%
16%
20%
26%
24%
20%
27%
21%
28%
22%
29%
20%
27%
31%
23%
26%
30%
20%
25%
18%
19%
23%
24%
21%
27%
23%
Overall trust in news continued downward in 2023, dipping from 48% one year earlier
to 43%. That is consistent with the sharp decrease found just a few months after the
also highly polarised presidential election won by Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. Criticism of
journalists is high in Brazil, with nearly two-thirds of the respondents often hearing or
seeing people criticising the press – in line with an environment of decaying trust and
high polarisation.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
Record News (incl. Jornal da Record, R7) 60%
62%
50%
43%
43%
92
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=14/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
58.67
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
42%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
WhatsApp
2
YouTube
3
Instagram
4
Facebook
5
Twitter
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
43% (+2)
41% (-2)
39% (+4)
75%
73%
63%
35% (-5)
14% (+1)
14% (+2)
59%
24%
29%
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
38m
94%
CANADA
Faced with rising costs and falling income, Canadian news media
are restructuring and experimenting with new content and business
models. The state’s role is becoming more central, from proposals
to force Google, Facebook, and others to compensate publishers,
to the future of the national broadcaster.
It has been a tough year for Canadian
news media. The combined effect of
inflation and declining revenues led
to hundreds of layoffs at the
National
Post
publisher Postmedia, the largest
newspaper group, as well as at television
networks Groupe TVA (Québecor) and
Global. Print editions were reduced
or eliminated at several companies
including Postmedia; Québecor’s dailies
in Montreal and Quebec City; the Atlantic
Canadian company SaltWire Network;
and
SingTao Daily,
Canada’s largest
Chinese-language newspaper.
But some publishers backed print: the
Winnipeg Free Press
invested $10m in
new presses, and the
Georgia Straight,
recently acquired by Overstory, returned
to free weekly distribution in Vancouver
after a three-month hiatus.
Podcast initiatives were developed and
promoted through media partnerships,
such as a true crime series by Postmedia
with Antica Productions; a
Toronto Star
entrepreneurship podcast made available
on Air Canada flights; and podcasts
jointly commissioned by the BBC and
CBC/Radio-Canada.
Le Devoir
launched
a daily news podcast with support from
the Quebec Ministry of Culture and
Communications.
Postmedia and Canadian-based online
betting and casino platform BET99
created a sports betting hub as an
affiliate channel to the media’s online
offerings. Torstar’s collaboration with
academic partners offers evidence-based
content on issues related to ageing.
There were changes in local news
groups, including cuts at Overstory,
an innovative British Columbia-based
start-up which acquired
The Coast
in
Halifax in 2022. But Village Media, cited
as a model for digital-first advertising-
funded community news sites, expanded
in Ontario. Hebdos Québec, a group of
75 independent publications, acquired
Réseau Sélect, an advertising network
serving French-language weeklies.
The
Eastern Door
newspaper in
Kahnawake, a First Nations community
in Quebec, launched a project to
help preserve the Mohawk language
Kanyen’kéha.
The Pipestone Flyer,
a local
newspaper and news site in Central
Alberta owned by Black Press, created
a digital subscription programme. In
New Brunswick, a former newspaper
court reporter introduced the
Fredericton Independent,
a subscription-
based newsletter.
The digital French-language daily La
Presse created a new luxury publication,
Édition Limitée,
and merged its
advertising, branded content, and data
science operations into a single brand,
Atelier La Presse. It reported a 9%
increase in ad revenue.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government
proposed that Meta, Alphabet, and
others should compensate publishers
for linking to news stories, going further
than the equivalent Australian News
Bargaining Code which has reportedly
led to US$134m per annum being paid to
publishers by platforms.
84
The Canadian
model would include broadcasters
and smaller publishers, and would
also impose tougher penalties for
non-compliance. In response Meta has
said that being compelled to pay for
content that it has not itself posted is
not sustainable, especially when news
is not the main reason for people using
its platforms. It says it will stop making
news content available on any of its
platforms in Canada if the act passes
in its current form. Google has tested
limiting the visibility of Canadian and
international news to its users.
More publishers are trying to engage
younger audiences, including on TikTok,
even though many public bodies are
banning the application due to security
concerns. At the time of writing,
however, the bans have not stopped
the federal government from advertising
on the platform.
The dismissal of Lisa LaFlamme, the
flagship anchor for Bell Media’s CTV, the
leading TV network, was widely criticised.
It was apparently in a disagreement about
budgets, but was hedged with debate
about workplace culture, managerial
interference, and digitalisation.
The future of public broadcaster CBC/
Radio-Canada became more polarised
following the election of a new leader
of the Conservative Party of Canada,
Pierre Poilievre. He has referred to
the broadcaster as ‘Trudeau’s $1.2bn
propaganda arm’ and promises to defund
it if he wins the next general election, to
be held before October 2025. Well over
half the broadcaster’s income comes from
federal funding, with most of the rest
coming from advertising, subscriptions,
and branded content. The broadcaster is
defending its position. It plans to become
100% digital, but only when there is
‘broadband ubiquity’ – a challenge in
such a large country.
Colette Brin
Director,
and
Sébastien Charlton
Coordinator,
Centre d’études sur les médias,
Université Laval
84
https://jninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Rod-Sims_News-Bargaining-Code_2022.pdf
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0115.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Digital News Report 2023 | Canada
115
Axis Line on both layers:
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
Rounded ends
90% CMYK Black
90%
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
(ENGLISH SPEAKING)
CMYK Black
ONLINE
(ENGLISH SPEAKING)
CTV News
Global News
CBC News (public broadcaster)
Local radio news
CNN
CP24
CityNews
BBC News
Community newspaper
Globe and Mail
Toronto Star
Fox News
18
17
15
13
11
10
9
8
8
27
26
22
CBC News online
CTV News online
Global News online
BBC News online
CNN.com
Yahoo! News
Globe and Mail online
MSN News
CP24 online
Local daily newspaper (e.g. Calgary Sun) online
New York Times online
Local radio news online
13
12
11
10
10
8
8
8
8
19
18
16
11%
Axis Line on both layers:
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
Rounded ends
90% CMYK Black
90%
ONLINE
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
(FRENCH SPEAKING)
CMYK Black
TVA/LCN Nouvelles
Text:
ICI Radio-Canada/ICI RDI (publicPro Light
Tisa Sans broadcaster)
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Journal de Montréal ou Québec
90% CMYK Black
Local radio news
Regional or local newspaper
TV5
Noovo Info
Le Devoir
6
L’actualité
6
Métro
6
CNN
Le Monde
5
4
51
TVA Nouvelles online
Text:
Numbers:
36 Tisa Sans Pro Medium
La Pro Light
Tisa Sans Presse online
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
ICI Radio-Canada/ICI RDI online
90% CMYK Black
White
Journal de Montréal ou Québec online
MSN News
L’actualité online
Narcity.com
Local radio news online
Le Devoir online
QUB Radio
Regional or local newspaper online
Yahoo! News
10
10
9
9
8
7
7
27
23
22
20
15
(FRENCH SPEAKING)
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
English 11% | French 11%
20
13
12
9
7
33%
TRUST
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
English 36% | French 26%
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
100%
Trust in news overall is falling among English-speaking
Pro Light
Tisa Sans
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Canadians, placing them in the lower end of surveyed
CMYK Black
90%
markets. Attitudes towards publicly funded news
services are also more negative than in past studies,
50%
especially in the West. However, Francophones
maintain more positive views, with a slight bump this
year for trust in news generally.
0%
Online (incl. social media)
TV
Numbers:
Social media
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Print
6pt w/ -20 tracking
White
75%
71%
48%
36%
69%
49%
45%
14%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST IN NEWS 2016–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey so it should not be treated as a list
of the most or least trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
ENGLISH
50%
FRENCH
Trust Neither Don’t
Trust
55%
58%
52%
49%
48%
59%
30%
58%
53%
39%
48%
47%
60%
45%
32%
29%
21%
31%
26%
34%
24%
26%
25%
30%
35%
31%
32%
27%
33%
40%
17%
21%
17%
25%
19%
17%
44%
17%
17%
26%
20%
21%
14%
22%
28%
Brand
CTV News
ICI Radio-Canada/ICI RDI
L’actualité
La Presse
La Presse Canadienne
Le Devoir
Trust Neither Don’t
Trust
51%
72%
61%
66%
61%
63%
34%
18%
21%
28%
23%
28%
26%
34%
41%
36%
39%
33%
27%
32%
16%
15%
10%
19%
11%
11%
11%
11%
13%
15%
20%
33%
14%
11%
12%
16%
55%
40%
Brand
=20/46 markets
0%
40%
BBC News
CBC News
CityNews
CNN
CP24
CTV News
Fox News
Global News
Globe and Mail
English 37%
2016
2023
Journal de Montréal ou Québec 60%
French 49%
Note: Not all country pages have the same range of
the time’
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of
years. Some may start later than others.
Les coops de l'information (6
54%
regional newspapers in Quebec)
Métro
MSN Actualités
Narcity.com
Noovo Info
Regional or local radio
TV5
TVA Nouvelles/LCN
44%
44%
28%
52%
62%
55%
67%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Twitter
4
Facebook Messenger
5
Instagram
6
TikTok
For News
For All
MSN News
National Post
New York Times
Regional or local
newspaper
Toronto Star
Yahoo! News
29% (-11)
25% (-7)
11%
11%
(-)
(-7)
62%
62%
19%
46%
35%
19%
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following brands is? Please use the scale below,
where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and 10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6-10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0-4 coded as ‘Don’t Trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand were excluded. Whether respondents
consider a brand trustworthy is their subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not an
objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
10% (-2)
6%
(-2)
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
83.53
15
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0116.png
116
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
19m
97%
CHILE
Chile’s media is dominated by a number of private national and local
broadcasters, with two commercial groups owning the bulk of print
titles. The news media have been tested by a series of dramatic political
events since popular protests in 2019.
A new constitution, which had been
written in a complex process designed
to build consensus in Chile, was strongly
rejected in a referendum in September
2022, meaning the whole drafting
process began again. In recent years,
politics and news coverage have become
central features of the media’s output,
but when the new constitution was
rejected, discussion moved on to other
subjects such as debating crime and law
enforcement news.
It is possible that, following a period
which has seen riots, COVID-19, a
contentious presidential election, as
well as several other elections, news
consumers are now experiencing a
certain amount of news fatigue. Four in
ten (40%) of respondents to our Digital
News Report survey say they sometimes
or often avoid the news, slightly up on
last year. National politics was one of
the news subjects mentioned as most
likely to be avoided, according to survey
respondents.
More widely, the role of journalism and
the performance of individual journalists
has come under scrutiny during this
time, especially on networks like Twitter,
even if the level of debate is not quite at
the peak seen during the referendum.
One high-profile example was during
the coverage of wildfires which broke
out in central and southern Chile before
Christmas, with major loss of life and
homes. TV networks covered the fires
extensively, and some sent news anchors
to the affected areas. Audience members
accused some reporters of insensitivity,
but praised others for not conducting
interviews in moments of vulnerability
or turning off cameras altogether.
Clips of what the audience saw as good
or bad practice went viral on social media
as Chileans adopted ‘second screen’
news consumption – something news
organisations themselves encouraged
by exploring news formats on TikTok and
live newscasts on YouTube. TikTok has
been the fastest growing social platform
in the last year and is used by almost
four in ten (39%) of our sample, with 18%
saying they have used the network for
news in the last week.
In spite of efforts by TV stations to
engage with the news seriously, the
economics of the news media remains
precarious, and job losses are common.
One of the most visible cases was that
of La Red, a television station which was
included in this report for the first time
last year as it focused more on serious
news coverage rather than an agenda
of entertainment. After months of not
paying salaries, La Red went bankrupt,
changed its CEO, and switched its entire
programming away from live political
news to reruns of old TV series and films.
It is now almost a different station and
its trust figures suffered as a result.
Chile’s only free-to-air public television
channel, Televisión Nacional de Chile
(TVN), is also continuing to struggle.
Private television stations like Mega and
Chilevisión (CHV) continue to be more
popular, and Televisión Nacional has had
to resort to renting some of its facilities
commercially to audiovisual production
companies. Television brands remain the
most popular sources for online news,
but it is the significance of audiovisual
material including hybrid formats such as
live-streamed radio shows or newspapers
emphasising video clips which is most
evident throughout the media industry.
Chile has two big newspapers,
La Tercera,
owned by conglomerate Copesa, and
El Mercurio,
the nation’s paper of record.
Both newspapers currently have
paywalls in place, but
El Mercurio
also
runs a separate online portal called Emol
which provides free access supported by
advertisements.
The magazine
The Clinic
appears to have
become an example of the audience’s
changing tastes away from politics.
Traditionally considered a partly satirical
magazine, it was acquired by a company
which intends to seek younger audiences
with entertainment and cultural stories.
One of the debates that arose during
recent political events was the need for
a law to regulate the media. Proponents
argued that new legislation was
needed to guarantee pluralism and
combat concentrated ownership, while
opponents worried about potential risks
to freedom of expression and blocking
the entry of new commercial actors.
This discussion will be reopened. Bills
have also been proposed to address
the danger of fake news. However,
there has been little progress due to
the lack of consensus on how to define
misinformation or who should be
responsible for determining the truth.
Francisco J. Fernández
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Enrique Núñez-Mussa
Michigan State University
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0117.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Meganoticias (Mega)
Chilevisión Noticias (CHV)
24 Horas (TVN) (public broadcaster)
Canal 13 News
Bío Bío Chile
Las Últimas Noticias
CNN
La Tercera
El Mercurio
City newspaper
Free city paper
Radio Cooperativa
Local radio news
ADN
Local television news
12
11
9
8
8
8
7
7
20
19
17
33
29
39
39
Axis Line
Digital News Report 2023 | Chile
on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Meganoticias online
24horas online
Bío Bío Chile online
La Tercera online
Emol.com
Chilevisión news online
T13.cl
Lun.com
Elmostrador online
CNN Chile online
El Mercurio online
Ciperchile.cl
Cooperativa.cl
Lacuarta.com
City newspaper website
Free city paper online
26
22
21
21
19
18
18
15
14
13
12
11
10
10
9
8
117
La Red
6
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Traditional sources such as television and print have
both declined significantly over the last seven years.
But online and social media are also declining,
suggesting news fatigue may be setting in to some
extent at least.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
93%
80%
76%
79%
65%
56%
50%
46%
11%
TRUST
16%
0%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
24 Horas (TVN)
Bío Bío Chile
Chilevisión Noticias (CHV)
CNN Chile
Trust
52%
63%
55%
61%
61%
49%
45%
45%
45%
45%
48%
39%
54%
54%
50%
Neither Don’t Trust
24%
20%
23%
22%
23%
22%
32%
29%
32%
29%
26%
31%
22%
27%
24%
24%
17%
22%
18%
16%
29%
24%
26%
23%
26%
26%
30%
25%
18%
26%
Trust in the news continues to be low (35%) as in previous years, with a 3pp fall
overall. After an economic bankruptcy and a significant reduction in personnel,
trust in TV station La Red decreased. At the same time, trust in the conservative
newspaper
El Mercurio
increased, which may reflect a new political scenario in
the country following the rejection of the draft for a new constitution last year.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
Cooperativa
El Mercurio
El Mostrador
Emol.com
Free city newspapers
La Red
La Tercera
LUN
Meganoticias (Mega)
Regional or local newspaper
Tele 13 (Canal 13)
50%
47%
35%
35%
83
/ 180
0%
2017
2023
=28/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
60.09
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
46%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
Instagram
3
WhatsApp
4
YouTube
5
TikTok
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
50% (-3)
34% (-2)
34% (+3)
71%
60%
75%
31% (+3)
18% (+9)
16% (-3)
69%
39%
26%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0118.png
118
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
52m
83%
COLOMBIA
Alarm bells are ringing for freedom of expression after a sharp
deterioration in relations between the media and the government,
which is being led for the first time by a leftist president. Frequent
attacks on journalists and publications may, however, have had the
effect of increasing trust with some groups, by reminding them of
the importance of watchdog journalism.
Gustavo Petro – the first left-wing
president in Colombia’s history, who
came to power in 2022 – has repeatedly
attacked the media and journalists,
sending or sharing dozens of tweets which
criticise them for the way they cover his
presidency. He has issued corrections and
made accusations of lack of transparency,
targeting newspapers including
El
Colombiano, El País,
and
El Tiempo,
radio
stations, online magazines, and native
digital media. His lines of attack are
diverse – he has criticised or mocked well-
known journalists on subjects including
peace dialogues with illegal groups,
energy policy, health reform, and even
allegations of sexual harassment.
Colombia is one of the countries where
attacks on journalists have a troubled
context. For years reporters faced
intimidation and violence from rebels
and paramilitaries. The Foundation for
the Freedom of the Press warned of
the possible consequences of attacks
by the president for the independence
of journalism, recommending that he
‘refrain from publishing any message
that citizens may interpret as permissive
towards violence against the press’.
In 2022, 218 threats to the press were
reported, the highest number in the past
15 years. Two journalists were murdered.
The president, whose ‘Total Peace’
agenda seeks to end endemic corruption
and fighting between factions, has
run into scandal following media
investigations led by the influential
Semana
magazine. It is alleged that his
son, Nicolás Petro, received money from
two former drug traffickers for his father’s
campaign. The president’s brother,
Juan Fernando Petro Urrego, is facing
accusations that he had connections with
groups which allegedly took government
money which was intended to persuade
small militia groups to turn themselves
in to the justice system. Investigations
are ongoing.
The combination of attacks and scandals
has gone some way to unite the media
in seeing its role as being a watchdog
towards the government. This increasing
confidence among publications may be
one of the reasons that both traditional
and digital-native media brands have
seen their trust scores increase.
Some publications have taken a more
openly partisan position towards the new
government, especially those backed
by corporations and political factions
that worry about a left-wing president.
Billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski, via his
holding company, purchased regional
newspaper
El País,
based in Cali, which
has been at the centre of protests which
paralysed the south of the country. If
the newspaper becomes more anti-
government in its tone, it could signal
a trend towards more polarised media.
Other powerful conglomerates may be
eyeing up local media, which have been
weakened after the pandemic.
Despite the tumultuous political landscape,
overall consumption figures online and
offline fell compared with last year and the
pandemic peaks. The paywalled website,
ElTiempo.com, one of the two national
newspapers, still leads weekly online news
use (29%), with Noticias.CaracolTV.com,
the digital arm of private national TV news
network Caracol TV, is in second position
(23%). One factor helping explain falling
online news consumption is the ongoing
shrinking of Facebook as a news platform.
Fewer people are using it, thanks in part
to the rise of platforms like TikTok, which
is popular with younger users, but not
such a powerful driver of traffic
to publisher websites.
But people actively avoiding the news
(41%) and polarisation will also be at
play. Respondents say they are avoiding
particular topics (36%) and checking news
sources less frequently (25%). Among
those who actively avoid news topics,
four in ten say they are avoiding national
politics; three in ten are avoiding stories
about crime and the war in Ukraine.
Big free-to-air TV news channels are still
hugely influential in Colombia. Caracol
News TV, part of privately owned Grupo
Valorem, and RCN News TV, part of Ardila
Lülle Organisation, are the biggest offline
news sources but both saw falls.
High inflation, high unemployment, and
tough economic conditions have led to
many small businesses closing, but they
seem not to have been translated yet
into a dent in online news subscriptions,
which are small but growing: 14%
of respondents say they paid for a
subscription, 2 percentage points higher
than last year.
El Tiempo
and
El Espectador
are using AI and other automatic
technologies to find successful ways
to convert users into subscribers.
Víctor García-Perdomo
Full Professor and Director,
Doctoral Program in Communication,
Communication School, Universidad
de La Sabana, Bogotá, Colombia
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0119.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Noticias Caracol TV
Noticias RCN TV
El Tiempo
Q´Hubo
Regional TV news
Noticias Uno
Caracol Radio
El Espectador
Blu Radio
RCN Radio
Noticentro 1 CM&
Semana
La FM
NTN24
WRadio
CNN
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
13
13
12
11
11
10
9
9
14
26
23
22
20
19
18
45
Axis
Digital News Report 2023 | Colombia
Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
El Tiempo online
Noticias Caracol TV online
Pulzo
Semana online
El Espectador online
Las 2 Orillas
Regional newspapers online
Regional TV news online
Noticias RCN TV online
Noticias Caracol Radio online
Noticias Uno online
Blu Radio online
Free online newspapers
Yahoo! News
La FM online
RCN Radio online
23
22
20
18
17
15
14
14
13
13
11
10
10
9
9
29
119
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2021–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Colombians in our more urban-based sample get their
news more frequently online (including from social
media) than from TV or print, which are both losing
reach. TikTok saw a big rise for the second year in a
row, part of a wider trend with younger people across
South America.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
87%
70%
58%
50%
80%
64%
48%
14%
TRUST
24%
22%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
El Espectator
El Tiempo
Las2Orillas
NotiCentro 1 CM&
Trust
59%
60%
46%
63%
53%
52%
48%
49%
71%
47%
48%
56%
65%
48%
65%
Neither Don’t Trust
22%
21%
29%
22%
21%
19%
21%
19%
17%
30%
27%
25%
22%
20%
21%
19%
19%
25%
16%
26%
29%
31%
32%
12%
23%
26%
18%
13%
32%
13%
Trust in the news (35%) remains low by global standards, possibly related to concerns
about both political polarisation and the spread of misinformation. Some media
outlets have increased their trust scores in the last year, perhaps a reward
for persistence in the face of attacks by the president. NoticiasUno (71%) and
NotiCentro 1 CM& (63%) are among brands to have seen biggest increases this year.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2021–23
100%
Noticias Caracol Radio
Noticias Caracol TV
Noticias RCN Radio
Noticias RCN Televisión
Noticias Uno
Pulzo
Q´Hubo
Regional newspapers
Regional TV news
Semana
Señal Colombia
50%
40%
35%
35%
139
For News
0%
2021
2023
=28/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
45.23
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
48%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
YouTube
4
Instagram
5
TikTok
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
58% (-7)
41% (+1)
36% (+2)
75%
77%
71%
29%
18%
(-)
(-)
55%
28%
20% (+10) 40%
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2841850_0120.png
120
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
132m
67%
MEXICO
Mexican news media still face daily attacks from a populist president.
Innovation and mergers among big players have brought significant
new challenges in the market, while competition from US-based
media increases choices for consumers.
The relationship between the media and
the president is not getting easier. Daily
verbal attacks on the news industry from
President Andres Manuel López Obrador
(AMLO) have increased in the past year
as he has continued to use his morning
addresses, known as the
mañaneras,
to
pursue his agenda. Notable journalists
including Carmen Aristegui, a host on
CNN en español, war correspondent and
radio host Carlos Loret de Mola, and
commentator Victor Trujillo have all
been targeted by the president, as have
numerous domestic and international
outlets. A letter signed by 180 Mexican
journalists in December 2022 demanded
an end to the harassment. Three
journalists were murdered in Mexico in
the first three months of the year.
Human rights organisation Article 19
says that the Mexican government has
developed a ‘strategy of disinformation’
while claiming to have created greater
transparency and accountability. This
has happened, it says, while legal access
to public sources of information has, in
effect, been curtailed. It also claims that
about a quarter (26.5%) of the public
information provided by government
authorities was false.
85
Legal challenges from journalists have
been numerous, including one from
Aristegui and one from political scientist
and journalist Denise Dresser, who
claimed her freedom of expression and
right to reply had been violated.
Meanwhile Google’s Mexican division is
appealing against a decision which saw
it ordered to pay US$250m in punitive
damages following the publication of
an article on its Blogger platform which
made defamatory allegations against a
lawyer, Ulrich Richter Morales. He said
that Google should not have allowed the
offending content to remain accessible.
Despite fears of recession, the Mexican
economy has recovered well after
COVID-19. Significant growth is forecast
for the telecommunications sector, and
there is optimism too for entertainment
and media,
86
despite announcements of
newsroom job cuts.
Football news site SoyFutbol (part of the
Debate Group) and news site La Silla Rota
(part of the El Universal newspaper group,
historically the most significant player
in the Mexican news market) have seen
the highest audience growth this year
according to figures from
El Economista
and Comscore.
87
Commercial television is
still dominant in Mexico, but is increasingly
threatened by internet-based streaming
platforms. All the global players are active
in Mexico along with home-grown ventures
such as Claro Video, part of Carlos Slim’s
América Móvil, which also owns digital
news brand UnoTV. Uno is one of three
digital-native outlets with the highest
traffic, along with Medio Tiempo and SDP
News from parent company Grupo Televisa,
the biggest player in commercial TV.
The merger of Grupo Televisa with
US-based Spanish-language network
Univision, completed this year, has led
to the creation of TelevisaUnivision and
the development of another streaming
platform, ViX, which offers movies, soap
operas, and sport, alongside news. It says
it is now the largest Spanish-language
streaming service in the world and has
more than 25 million monthly active
users on its ad-funded tier alone.
Internet penetration looks set to
increase further, as the start of the
development of a 5G network begins,
adding to well-established fixed and
mobile broadband services. This should
help access for regions where it is difficult
to install fixed broadband, such as rural
areas of southern Mexico.
Digital-native operator Latinus,
which launched in 2020 with Carlos
Loret de Mola, one of the president’s
favourite targets, as its frontman, runs
investigations into corruption and
organised crime. Though it was created
to appeal to Latin American audiences
within the US, from where it is produced,
it has seen success in appealing to a
young engaged audience in Mexico and
in January this year began broadcasting
live. One of the president’s other targets,
Victor Trujillo, took a character he plays
called Brozo, a green-haired, foul-
mouthed clown who rants about the
news, onto the Latinus network.
Latinus has grown too on TikTok where
it has more than 3.4 million followers,
including for videos of Brozo. Our data
show that TikTok has grown substantially
in Mexico this year, and many of the news
firms are trying to find ways to engage
younger audiences there. The president,
as yet, is not joining them.
María Elena Gutiérrez-Rentería
Universidad Panamericana
85
86
87
Article 19, ‘(Des) información oficial y comunicación social’, 14 Mar. 2023. https://articulo19.org/desinformacion-oficial-y-comunicacion-social/
PWC,
Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2022–2026 Capítulo México.
2022. https://www.pwc.com/mx/es/industrias/tmt/gemo.html
I. Marchant, ‘Sólo 4 medios nativos registran crecimiento de audiencia en 2022’, Comscore, 8 July 2022. https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/tecnologia/Solo-4-medios-nativos-
registran-crecimiento-de-audiencia-en-2022-20220708-0026.html
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TV Azteca News
Televisa News
El Universal
Imagen News
Milenio Noticias
Foro TV
CNN
El Sol de México
Canal 11 News
Reforma
Radio Fórmula News
La Jornada
Excelsior
Regional or local newspaper
Local TV news
Heraldo
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
13
11
11
11
11
10
10
9
8
8
22
20
19
18
31
40
Digital News Report 2023 | Mexico
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
TV Azteca news online
El Universal news online
UnoTV news online
City newspaper online
Aristegui News
Imagen news online
Televisa news online
Foro TV online
Reforma online
CNN.com
Animal Político
Radio Fórmula news online
El Financiero online
La Jornada online
Local TV news online
Latinus
23
22
21
18
17
14
13
12
12
11
11
11
11
10
8
8
121
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
TV and print have become gradually less important
over time for our online sample, with social media
widely used across age groups. Mexicans are heavy
users of social media, with YouTube and TikTok growing
fastest for news.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
91%
72%
65%
80%
63%
42%
20%
50%
51%
16%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Aristegui News
Canal 22
CNN
El Economista
Trust
59%
59%
68%
59%
60%
62%
62%
47%
57%
62%
49%
60%
58%
56%
58%
Neither Don’t Trust
21%
27%
19%
25%
25%
22%
22%
27%
26%
22%
21%
23%
23%
21%
27%
20%
14%
13%
16%
15%
16%
16%
25%
17%
16%
30%
17%
20%
23%
15%
The president’s repeated attacks against news companies may have impacted the
steady decline in trust in the news over the last few years from 50% in 2019 to 36%
today. Most of the top news brands have seen further declines in their individual trust
scores this year, with CNN outperforming local brands.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
El Financiero
El Universal
Imagen News
Latinus
Local newspaper
Milenio News
Noticieros Televisa
Radio Fórmula News
Reforma
TV Azteca News
UnoTV
50%
49%
36%
36%
128
For News
0%
2017
2023
27/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
47.98
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
48%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
TikTok
5
Twitter
6
Instagram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
56% (-5)
39% (+2)
30%
(-)
77%
75%
77%
15% (+5)
15% (-1)
14%
(-)
42%
30%
45%
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
34m
87%
PERU
Political instability, protests, and polarisation are the greatest threats
to freedom of the press and journalists in a year that ended with a
failed coup by former President Pedro Castillo.
It feels like the turmoil in Peru never
stops. A year after an extremely close
election, the opposition-controlled
Congress tried repeatedly to oust the
new president, Pedro Castillo, and his
government. They were not short of
opportunities – the government was
inexperienced, largely inept, and rife
with corruption.
88
In December, as Congress was mounting
its third impeachment attempt, President
Castillo responded by attempting a
‘self-coup’. In a televised speech, echoing
the way Alberto Fujimori dissolved
Congress in 1992, Castillo said he
was going to establish an emergency
government, reorganise the judiciary,
and call for a new constitution. However,
where Fujimori’s self-coup had led to a
decade-long dictatorship, Castillo’s –
without the support of the military – fell
flat. Congress ousted him that same
afternoon, and he was imprisoned. The
vice-president, Dina Ercilia Boluarte
Zegarra, was duly sworn in by Congress
as the new president, the first woman to
hold the position in Peru’s 200 years of
republican governments.
Although the transition was orderly and
followed constitutional processes, its
abruptness led Castillo supporters and
critics of Congress to take to the streets
in protest, demanding a general election.
At the time of writing, 59 people had
died as a result of police or army actions.
More than a hundred police were injured.
Several independent investigations,
including some by foreign press, found
excessive force had been used by the
police and military. One of the most
useful tools in these investigations is the
availability of videos of police and army
actions, filmed by protesters on their
phones and uploaded or streamed to
social media.
The Economist
downgraded Peru from
a ‘flawed democracy’ to a ‘hybrid
(authoritarian) regime’ in its 2022
Democracy Index,
89
citing an ‘increasingly
unstable political environment’.
The mainstream press, which is mostly
opposed to Castillo’s government,
supported Boluarte’s administration,
which moved away from the left and
aligned itself with conservative parties,
seeking to protect markets and preserve
the economic model which has been the
status quo in the country for the past
two decades.
Peru was very badly hit by COVID-19, and
the slowness of the economic recovery
is worrying for media companies.
Advertising spend reached 0.23% of
GDP, far below the levels of 2017 (0.31%).
Broadcast TV still takes the largest share
but the trend is steadily in decline (45.8%
in 2018 vs. 38.3% in 2022).
90
There are other reasons to worry –
not least the overall decline in news
audiences. All the most important
sources of news (online, TV, print, and
social media) showed declines of between
4% and 7%. Two newspapers which lost
more than most were influential political
tabloid
Perú21
and the country’s oldest
newspaper
El Comercio,
which lost 4%
and 5% in print readership and 5% and
7% in online readership respectively. The
trend might explain why El Comercio
Group – which owns 80% of print media
in Peru – sold
Perú21
to its news director,
Cecilia Valenzuela Valencia.
Digitally native publications which had
been gaining ground in the past few
years seemed to become stagnant or
even lose audience. Two exceptions are
worth mentioning: Willax TV and Exitosa
maintained their audiences year-on-year
(20%). They come from the opposite
extreme ends of the political spectrum:
Willax is a right-wing TV channel which
was accused of broadcasting fake news
over the post-self-coup riots; Exitosa, a
radio and TV operation, is known for its
left-wing populism.
Online newspaper Infobae.com, one
of the world’s most visited Spanish-
language news sites, formalised its
presence in Peru by joining the Peruvian
Press Council. It enters our study for the
first time this year with 8% of participants
saying they visited the site for news.
The year 2022 was also the ‘worst of
the century’ for Peruvian journalists,
according to the National Association
of Journalists’ annual report,
91
which
reported a total of 303 incidents
involving journalists. The most common
were threats/harassment (36%) and
verbal/physical attacks (34%), but also
growing were the use of lawsuits to
intimidate journalists (9%) and blocks
on accessing public information (9%).
Digital independent journalists bore the
brunt of the attacks (43%) followed by TV
journalists (32%). This is not surprising –
71% of participants in our study say
that, very or quite often, they ‘see or
hear people criticising journalists’.
Lourdes M. Cueva Chacón
San Diego State University
88
89
90
91
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/09/1141855115/from-president-to-prisoner-the-rapid-descent-of-perus-pedro-castillo
The Economist.
https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2022/
CPI. https://cpi.pe/images/upload/paginaweb/archivo/26/MARKET%20REPORT_2023_2-1.pdf
ANP. https://anp.org.pe/anp-registro-303-ataques-a-la-libertad-de-prensa-durante-el-ano-2022/
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2841850_0123.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Latina News
América News
ATV News
RPP News (Radio Programas del Perú)
Diario Trome
TV Perú News
Willax TV News
Exitosa (radio and TV)
Panamericana TV News
Canal N
Diario El Comercio
Diario La República
Diario Perú21
Diario El Popular
Diario Correo
Diario Ojo
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
12
10
10
24
23
22
20
20
19
18
17
17
13
34
40
39
Digital News
Axis Line on both layers:
Report 2023 | Peru
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Peru.com
RPP News online
El Comercio online
La República online
Latina News online
Exitosa News online
Perú21 por internet
ATV News online
Trome online
TV Perú online
Canal N online
CNN.com
Ojo Público online
12
12
10
10
10
10
9
8
24
23
20
19
18
18
17
15
123
Diario O cial El Peruano online
Gestión online
Infobae.com
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2021–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
There is an overall decline in news use. This includes
traditional and online media as well as all sources of
news including social media. TikTok is the only social
media platform growing considerably as a source of
news among Peruvians.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
85%
70%
63%
50%
80%
66%
51%
13%
TRUST
28%
24%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
América TV News
Canal N
Correo
El Comercio
Trust
37%
44%
37%
45%
51%
43%
43%
43%
39%
39%
30%
42%
53%
30%
45%
Neither Don’t Trust
22%
23%
28%
23%
24%
27%
25%
26%
24%
32%
28%
25%
21%
23%
27%
41%
33%
35%
32%
25%
30%
32%
31%
36%
29%
42%
34%
26%
47%
28%
Overall trust in news (33%) has declined across the board, as has trust in individual
brands, with state-run media consistently registering some of the biggest losses.
The percentage of people who say they distrust the media is higher than in many
other countries, suggesting a high degree of media polarisation.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2021–23
100%
El Peruano
Exitosa
Gestión
La República
Latina News
Local newspaper, radio or TV
Ojo Público
Panamericana News
RPP News
Trome
TVPerú Noticias
50%
40%
33%
33%
110
For News
0%
2021
2023
=33/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
52.74
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
53%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
TikTok
5
Instagram
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
66% (-1)
39%
(-)
36% (+2)
81%
69%
70%
30% (+14)
22%
(-)
14% (-1)
48%
45%
22%
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SECTION 3
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125
SECTION 3
Analysis by Country and Market
Asia-Pacific
ASIA-PACIFIC
3.33 Australia
3.34 Hong Kong
3.35 India
3.36 Indonesia
3.37 Japan
3.38 Malaysia
3.39 Philippines
3.40 Singapore
3.41
South Korea
3.42 Taiwan
3.43 Thailand
126
128
130
132
134
136
138
140
142
144
146
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
26m
90%
AUSTRALIA
After years of cuts, contractions, and closures, Australian news
businesses received millions in financial relief through commercial
deals struck with Google and Meta in response to Australia’s
News Media Bargaining Code. However, it hasn’t been a cure-all.
The advertising market has cooled, and News Corp Australia plans
to lay off hundreds of staff. In uncertain times, the continued rise
in paying for online news provides a beacon of hope.
The past 12 months have been something
of a rollercoaster ride for media in
Australia. There was some early optimism
with Nine Entertainment Co. and News
Corp Australia both posting improved
revenues in June 2022. A review of the
News Media Bargaining Code
92
introduced
in 2021 found that 30 commercial
agreements had been secured between
the major platforms and Australian news
organisations. Several news organisations
increased their staff, with Guardian
Australia hiring 50 new journalists. But it
is clear the benefits of the Code have been
unevenly felt. Small and independent
players in the industry, particularly in the
regions, have struggled to negotiate deals
with Meta and Google.
93
There are also concerns that, once the
first round of agreements expire, Meta
and Google may be reluctant to keep the
money flowing.
Falling ad revenue has hit the platforms
hard, with Meta announcing tens of
thousands of redundancies globally. Many
of those cuts have come from its Facebook
Journalism Project and other journalism
initiatives, suggesting a pivot away from
news as part of its core interests. Google
has dropped over 10,000 staff in the US,
signalling it may be doing some belt-
tightening in Australia as well.
News Corp chief executive Robert
Thomson announced in March that rising
interest rates and plummeting ad spending
meant the company would need to lay off
one in 20 of its staff globally. Given that
News Corp operates more than half the
Australian print market this could have an
outsized effect on Australian journalism.
May 2022 saw a change in government.
The incoming Labor administration has
reversed cuts to the public Australian
Broadcasting Corporation and moved
92
93
94
95
it from a three-year to five-year funding
cycle. It is also set to hand out $4 million in
grants as part of a News Media Assistance
Program, signalling intent to sustain
and develop public interest journalism,
particularly in the regions. However,
piecemeal approaches do little to address
the underlying market issues in Australia.
According to data from the Public Interest
Journalism Initiative
94
around 50 regional
news outlets closed, merged, or reduced
their services in 2022, most of these being
newspapers. This was only partly offset by
the opening of 26 new outlets and ten new
ABC rural newsrooms.
Consumers are continuing to drift away
from traditional media such as TV,
print, and radio, and towards streaming
video-on-demand services, online news
subscriptions, and social media. Major
players such as Foxtel have been able to
offset losses from their broadcast products
with steady growth in subscription revenue
from streaming services like Kayo and
Binge. Nine Entertainment Co.’s streaming
service Stan also controls a sizeable
segment of the market now. Despite
posting heavy losses, News Corp Australia
reported more than 1 million subscribers to
online news in 2022.
This year’s data show that the 5 percentage
point increase in paying for online news
we saw last year was not a fluke. The
proportion paying has increased again,
up to 22% from only 13% two years ago.
Holding on to those subscribers is the
challenge. Trust in news in Australia
remains at pre-pandemic levels, news
avoidance continues to be high, and
concern about online misinformation
is rising.
The voluntary Code of Practice on
Disinformation and Misinformation
promises a framework to help
organisations combat false and misleading
information online. A review of the Code
95
in late 2022 made significant changes,
including changing the ‘harm’ threshold
related to dis- and misinformation from
‘serious and imminent’ to ‘serious and
credible’. But even with the Code, the
government is set to grant the Australian
Communications and Media Authority new
powers to compel platforms to assist it.
This may include an additional mandatory
and enforceable industry code of conduct.
Trust may yet be the key to holding onto
news subscribers, but in such unstable
times organisations will need to move fast
to capitalise on their gains in 2023.
Kieran McGuinness
News and Media Research Centre,
University of Canberra
Department of the Treasury,
News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code; The Code’s First Year of Operation.
Canberra, 2022. https://treasury.gov.au/publication/
p2022-343549
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2022/australias-news-media-bargaining-code-pries-140-million-from-google-and-facebook/
Public Interest Journalism Initiative, Australian Newsroom Mapping Project, 2023. https://newsindex.piji.com.au/news-changes/
DIGI, 2022 Code Review. https://digi.org.au/disinformation-code/code-review/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0127.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Channel 7
Channel 9
Channel TEN
SBS (TV and radio)
15
15
12
10
10
10
8
8
8
8
8
7
7
34
11
34
32
Digital News Report 2023 | Australia
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
ABC News online
News.com.au
Nine News online
Guardian Australia online
7News.com.au
BBC News online
The Australian online
SBS News online
Sky News online
Sydney Morning Herald online
MailOnline Australia
The New Daily
Daily Telegraph online
CNN.com
Channel TEN online
9
9
9
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
15
15
14
24
22
127
ABC News (TV & radio) (public broadcaster)
Commercial FM radio (e.g. Triple M, Nova)
Sky News
The Australian
Regional or local newspaper
Daily Telegraph
Herald Sun
Prime7
WIN Television
BBC News
Commercial AM radio news (e.g. 2GB, 2UE)
Courier Mail
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
The Age online
6
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
TV and print use continue to decline, with ABC TV
(-6pp), Channel TEN (-5pp), and Channel 7 (-3pp) losing
a substantial share of viewers. Weekly usage of print
newspapers has halved since 2016.
100%
78%
65%
50%
71%
58%
45%
52%
38%
22%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
38%
19%
0%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
ABC News
Australian Financial Review
BBC News
Channel 7 News
Trust
66%
55%
60%
56%
57%
44%
52%
46%
49%
61%
66%
47%
50%
50%
52%
Neither Don’t Trust
18%
30%
26%
24%
23%
30%
29%
28%
28%
25%
22%
24%
30%
30%
27%
16%
15%
14%
20%
20%
25%
18%
25%
23%
14%
12%
29%
21%
20%
21%
Trust in news (43%) remains at pre-pandemic levels and Australia is still in the
mid-range of the 46 countries for trust. Trust in brands has risen. While most
mainstream brands recorded small increases, Guardian Australia increased by 6pp
to 52%. Public broadcasters and regional/local newspapers continue as the most
trusted sources of news. Tabloid metropolitan newspapers the least.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2016–23
100%
Channel 9 News
Daily Telegraph
Guardian Australia
Herald Sun
News.com.au
Regional or local newspaper
SBS News
Sky News
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age
The Australian
50%
43%
43%
43%
27
/ 180
0%
2016
2023
=14/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
78.24
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
28%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Instagram
4
Twitter
5
WhatsApp
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
32% (+1)
23% (+4)
14% (+3)
64%
57%
42%
12% (+1)
10% (+4)
(-2)
20%
29%
48%
6
Facebook Messenger 9%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0128.png
128
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
7.6m
92%
HONG KONG
Press freedom in Hong Kong continues to be steadily eroded following
the enactment of the controversial National Security Law in 2020.
Meanwhile Hong Kong’s television broadcasters face mounting
financial losses after advertising revenue plummeted during the
COVID pandemic, speeding up the search for new business models.
The political ramifications of the National
Security Law continue to reverberate
among Hong Kong’s news media and
journalists. The investigative news
platform FactWire became the fourth
news outlet to cease operations since the
law’s enactment, following the demise of
Apple Daily,
Stand News, and Citizen News.
Established in 2015 through crowdfunding,
FactWire developed a reputation for
investigative journalism and exposés on
political and social affairs in Hong Kong
and China. Its closure announcement did
not give a clear reason.
96
Earlier, the Foreign Correspondents’
Club (FCC) of Hong Kong announced
the cancellation of the 2022 Hong Kong
Human Rights Press Awards two weeks
before the event that was supposed to
coincide with World Press Freedom Day.
The FCC had administered the awards
since 1996. In a message to members the
FCC President noted that ‘there remain
significant areas of uncertainty and we
do not wish unintentionally to violate the
law’.
97
It was reported that a contributing
factor was that several awards were
won by Stand News, whose editors had
earlier been charged by the government
for publishing seditious materials under
the colonial-era crime ordinance. The
NGO Human Rights Watch and the
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and
Mass Communication at Arizona State
University has assumed administration of
the 2023 Awards.
The mid-term review of the 12-year free
TV and sound broadcasting licences by
the Communications Authority, Hong
Kong’s regulator of the broadcasting and
telecommunications industries, included
recommendations to the government
that free TV and radio stations should
‘broadcast no less than 30 minutes of
programmes on national education,
national identity and National Security
Law (NSL) per week’.
98
For English radio
channels, the amount of broadcast
hours that must be in English would be
reduced from at least 80% to 55%.
All recommendations were accepted by
the government.
These and other developments, such
as direct criticisms by high-ranking
government officials towards mainstream
newspapers that published content
portraying the local and Chinese
governments negatively, have contributed
to a precipitous decline in press freedom
in Hong Kong. In the 2023 World Press
Freedom Index released by Reporters
Without Borders (RSF), Hong Kong ranked
140 compared with 80 in the 2021 index.
It is a far cry from its global rank of 18 in the
inaugural index published in 2002, where
Hong Kong was the freest media market
in Asia.
Despite these conditions, a range of online
news sites have been established by former
journalists in the last few years, including
The Witness and hkcourtnews.com, both
reflecting public interest in a number of
high-profile legal cases that are going
through the courts. The Collective is a
news site aiming ‘to report on people and
events in a professional and fair manner,
to monitor the powerful, and to seek the
truth’, and Channel C and Mill Milk are new
online video channels producing soft news
content, among others.
Television remains an important source
of news in Hong Kong but commercial
broadcasters continue to post yearly losses
and the easing of COVID restrictions are
unlikely to improve their financial viability.
One of the two pay TV operators, Cable
TV, gave up its licence six years before its
expiry date to focus on the free TV market
as the number of paying subscribers
continues to fall, especially as international
subscription-based services such as Netflix
and Disney+ have become more popular.
While the reach of Cable TV’s i-CABLE
news channel is relatively low compared
with other broadcasters and newspapers,
it has consistently been among the top four
most trusted news brands in Hong Kong
based on current and past
Digital News
Report
data. According to Cable TV there
are no plans to downsize its newsroom,
though redundancies in other departments
are expected.
The largest TV broadcaster TVB’s answer
to plummeting advertising revenue
has been a concerted strategic shift
to e-commerce and expansion to the
Mainland Chinese markets. Live-streaming
e-commerce in China is a billion-dollar
industry with triple-digit growth in past
years. In 2023, TVB partnered with
Alibaba’s online shopping mall and had
its performers and artists appear in its
live-streaming sales channels to promote
various Hong Kong products to generate
sales revenue. The results were well
received by investors as TVB’s stock price
surged by 85%.
Michael Chan, Francis Lee,
and
Hsuan-Ting Chen
Chinese University of Hong Kong
96
97
98
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/06/10/breaking-hong-kong-investigative-news-platform-factwire-disbands/
‘Press Freedom: Important Notice from the President’. https://www.fcchk.org/press-freedom/hrpa
‘The Communications Authority’s Main Recommendations Accepted by the Chief Executive in Council’. https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/202302/14/P2023021400421_412960_1_1
676364320169.pdf
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0129.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TVB News
Headline Daily
NowTV News
RTHK (public broadcaster)
Oriental Daily News
AM730
BBC News
Commercial radio news
i-CABLE News
Hong Kong Economic Times
Sky Post
Sing Tao Daily
CNN
Ming Pao
Metro Radio
South China Morning Post
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
6
13
13
12
12
11
11
10
9
7
17
25
24
23
19
53
Digital News Report
Axis Line on both layers:
2023 | Hong Kong
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Hk01.com
TVB News online
Yahoo! News
Now TV News online
Headline Daily online
Oriental Daily News online
AM730 online
RTHK News online
21
18
18
16
16
11
11
10
10
9
9
9
9
33
31
30
129
Hong Kong Economic Times online
BBC News online
Sing Tao Daily online
Commercial radio news online
Bastillepost
CNN.com
i-CABLE News online
Sky Post online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
The percentage of those accessing news from
traditional sources such as TV and print continues to
decline each year. Online news usage, which has been
largely stable since 2017, declined by 5pp in the last
year, partly driven by falls in social media.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
84%
74%
60%
50%
79%
65%
55%
48%
16%
TRUST
25%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
AM730
Bastillepost
Commercial radio
Dot Dot News
Headline Daily
HK01
i-CABLE News
In-media
Ming Pao
NOW TV News
Oriental Daily News
RTHK (public broadcaster)
Sing Tao Daily
TVB News
Yahoo! News
Trust
56%
41%
57%
36%
56%
51%
57%
44%
57%
65%
51%
58%
55%
55%
57%
Neither Don’t Trust
31%
34%
30%
42%
29%
30%
31%
34%
27%
25%
28%
26%
27%
20%
30%
13%
25%
13%
23%
15%
19%
12%
22%
16%
10%
21%
17%
18%
26%
12%
Overall trust in the news media (39%) has remained relatively stable in the past year,
but trust in most news brands remained unchanged or rose slightly. Trust in the
public broadcaster RTHK rose by 5% between 2022 and 2023 after dropping by a
similar amount the previous year, when a change of leadership occurred and a
government official, instead of a veteran news professional, was appointed to head
the broadcaster.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
50%
42%
39%
39%
140
For News
0%
2017
2023
=22/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
44.86
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
39%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Instagram
5
WeChat
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
44% (-2)
40% (+4)
28% (-5)
69%
73%
79%
17%
11%
7%
(-)
(-1)
(+1)
48%
43%
16%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0130.png
130
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
1,414m
60%
INDIA
Indian media companies are facing tough times through a combination
of declining interest in news, lower trust, and falling revenues.
Meanwhile human rights groups say press freedoms have become
increasingly threatened.
India slipped to its worst position on record
in the Press Freedom Index this year
(161 out of 180 countries), published by
Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
99
The
report notes that the press in India is facing
challenges regarding journalists’ security
and undue political influence. Independent
journalists and media owners who carry
out investigative work or those that have
been critical of governments (both central
and state) face physical threats as well as
online harassment and legal charges.
Even foreign media were affected, with
the offices of the BBC surveyed amid
suggestions of tax irregularities in
February. The surveys at the BBC came
just a few weeks after the broadcaster
released
India: The Modi Question,
a
documentary series critical of Prime
Minister Modi and his role in the Gujarat
riots in 2002, when he was the state’s
chief minister. The Information and
Broadcasting Ministry responded
by ordering social media platforms
YouTube and Twitter to take down links
and tweets on the documentary under
the new IT rules, with officials in the
government claiming the content lacked
‘objectivity’.
100
Similar investigations
on NGOs and think tanks have led
independent media bodies to criticise
these surveys as a form of intimidation.
The central government is further
modifying the IT rules by setting up
a fact-check unit under it, to identify
‘fake, false, or misleading’ information
concerning the government, which
intermediaries need to remove from their
platforms. This has been widely criticised
for overreach and endangering freedom
of speech – as well as for contradicting
earlier procedures laid down by the
Supreme Court for blocking online
content.
101
Some relief, however, came last May when
the Supreme Court of India suspended the
controversial and colonial-era sedition
law, directing the government to review it.
Further, in the case of TV channel Media
One, where the government revoked its
licence, the top court noted that being
critical of the government cannot be
considered ‘anti-establishment’ and
refusing security clearance to operate will
create a ‘chilling effect’ on press freedom.
102
Legacy brands in broadcast and print,
NDTV 24x7, BBC News, Republic TV, and
Times of India,
were the top news sources
attracting viewers online and offline.
Dainik
Bhaskar,
a Hindi daily, featured among
the top ten legacy brands accessed both
online and offline by survey respondents,
indicating a strong presence for the local
language press even among English
news readers.
But across different sources this year, our
Digital News Report survey finds steep falls
in both the consumption and sharing of
news. There was a sharp decrease in access
to online news (12 percentage points lower
than last year), particularly through social
media (-11pp), the main sources of news
for a predominantly younger audience.
Television, popular among a large section
of the population, also saw a 10pp decline
as a news source with our younger and
more urban-based sample. These falls in
news use can be attributed, in part, to the
reducing impact of the pandemic, with
lockdown restrictions withdrawn in April
last year.
NDTV, considered an independent voice
in the polarised television news space in
India, was taken over by the Indian business
conglomerate Adani Group’s AMG Media
Network in August 2022. The takeover
was another addition to a host of media
organisations now owned or controlled
by big business conglomerates in India. In
January, the Adani group faced the heat
after a report by US-based Hindenburg
Research alleged that the company
had committed ‘accounting fraud’ and
‘stock manipulation’ along with being on
‘precarious financial footing’ because of
heavy debt.
103
In a news environment characterised
by reduced levels of trust, The Wire, an
independent non-profit website, faced a
severe credibility crisis for its investigative
series on Meta in October. In its articles,
it was alleged that special privileges were
provided to a senior functionary in the
ruling BJP government through Meta’s
XCheck program. The allegations were
strongly denied, and The Wire eventually
retracted its stories after it found evidence
that the central thrust of the story was
fabricated and misleading. The Wire lost
some audience trust (-5pp) in our annual
brand trust ratings.
Digital-born brands, while not as popular
in reach as legacy media brands, are
attracting dedicated and engaged
audiences. Among these are bilingual
independent brands like NewsClick, as
well as brands owned by traditionally
strong regional players like Catch News
(of the Patrika group), affirming a strong
preference for news across languages for
our survey respondents.
Anjana Krishnan
Research Associate, Asian College
of Journalism, Chennai
99
100
101
102
103
https://rsf.org/en/country/india
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/india-emergency-laws-to-ban-bbc-narendra-modi-documentary
https://internetfreedom.in/statement-on-the-notification-of-the-it-amendment-rules-2023/
https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/6825/6825_2022_1_1501_43332_Judgement_05-Apr-2023.pdf
https://hindenburgresearch.com/adani/; https://www.ft.com/content/e06b1797-7ac6-49f5-b4c8-cdf47652f65d
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0131.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
NDTV (24-hour TV news)
The Times of India
BBC News
Republic TV
Hindustan Times
Times Now
India Today
The Hindu
27
26
24
22
20
20
19
19
18
17
14
14
14
12
12
33
Digital
layers:
Axis Line on both
News Report 2023 | India
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
NDTV online
BBC News online
India.com
The Times of India online
Republic TV online
Dainik Bhaskar online
India Today online
Hindustan Times online
22
22
19
19
17
16
16
15
15
15
13
12
11
10
10
Also
The Quint:
The Wire:
Firstpost:
News Click:
Catch News:
Livemint:
News Laundry:
Scroll.in:
28
131
9%
8%
8%
8%
6%
6%
6%
6%
DD India (public broadcaster Doordarshan)
Dainik Bhaskar
All India Radio (public broadcaster)
CNBC TV-18
CNN-News18
Regional or local newspaper
The Indian Express
The Economic Times
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
DD News online (public broadcaster)
Times Now News online
The Hindu online
CNN-News18 online
The Indian Express online
The Economic Times online
Redi News
The Print
The News Minute:
8%
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2021–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
These data are based on a survey of mainly English-
speaking, online news users in India – a small subset of
a larger, more diverse, media market. Respondents are
generally more affluent, younger, have higher levels of
formal education, and are more likely to live in cities
than the wider Indian population. Findings in this online
poll will tend to under-represent the continued
importance of traditional media such as TV and print.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
82%
63%
59%
50%
72%
52%
49%
40%
50%
0%
2021
2022
2023
TRUST
Despite a small decrease (3pp) in overall trust in news, public broadcasters and legacy
print brands retained relatively high levels of trust. Public broadcasters DD India and All
India Radio (and the BBC) are among those with the highest levels of trust. Independent
outlets that report critically on those in positions of power are often actively distrusted
by some respondents and subject to coordinated harassment, so scores should not be
seen as a measure of the quality or trustworthiness of the content itself.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2021–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
All India Radio
BBC News
CNN-News18
DD India
Economic Times
Hindustan Times
India Today TV
NDTV
Regional or local newspaper
Republic TV
Scroll.in
The Hindu
The Indian Express
The Times of India
The Wire
Trust
69%
66%
62%
70%
67%
67%
63%
64%
63%
58%
50%
66%
66%
69%
52%
Neither Don’t Trust
14%
12%
17%
13%
13%
13%
15%
15%
17%
15%
23%
14%
14%
13%
20%
17%
22%
21%
18%
19%
20%
21%
21%
20%
26%
27%
20%
20%
18%
27%
50%
38%
38%
38%
161
For News
0%
2021
2023
=24/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
36.62
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
47%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
YouTube
2
WhatsApp
3
Facebook
4
Instagram
5
Telegram
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
56% (+3)
47% (-4)
39% (-4)
72%
69%
55%
32%
(-)
50%
38%
30%
20% (-1)
20% (-2)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0132.png
132
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
278m
76%
INDONESIA
A new criminal code which, among other things, bans publishing
insults against the president, became law in December 2022.
The new law has been described by human rights activists as a
significant setback for Indonesia’s reputation for press freedom.
Bans on extra-marital sex and cohabitation
attracted widespread international
attention when they were introduced
late last year. But when it comes to news,
media, and journalism, it was 17 articles
in the country’s new criminal code which
drew criticism from human rights activists
and from the independent Indonesian
Press Council. The new laws, they said,
had the capacity to threaten press freedom
because they included bans on insulting
the president, the vice-president, state
institutions, the flag, and even the state
ideology (known as Pancasila). Beh Lih Yi,
the Committee to Protect Journalists’
Asia programme coordinator, said the new
law ‘could cause members of the press to
be jailed for simply reporting the news’.
104
International organisations such as
Human Rights Watch have joined the
Indonesian Press Council and the Alliance
of Independent Journalists in condemning
the move.
After the toppling of Soeharto in 1998,
Indonesia had become a regional model for
press freedom. The new code, combined
with a rise in conservative social policies,
reflects changes in public opinion which
many worry could presage a tilt back
towards authoritarianism.
Indonesia’s media environment, however,
continues to be diverse, with independent
outlets expressing a wide range of views.
Despite this diversity, powerful media
companies owned by tycoons, some
with political aspirations, dominate the
media landscape. Foreign ownership of
broadcast media is banned, but there are
few restrictions on news production and
distribution for Indonesians.
The past few years have, however,
witnessed encroachments on digital
freedom of expression. The 2008
Electronic Information and Transactions
Law (ITE) contains criminal penalties
for those found guilty of distributing,
transmitting, and/or making electronic
information containing libel accessible
to the public. Although the law was
intended to regulate e-commerce, it
contains a number of vague and imprecise
offences with penalties including arrest
and detention. Any kind of electronic
communication – including social media
– is fair game under the law, as are all
manner of ‘insults’, including blasphemy.
Also worrying to advocates for press
freedom is Ministerial Regulation 5
(MR5), which was introduced in 2020
by the Ministry of Communication and
Information Technology to govern
the functioning of private ‘electronic
systems operators’ (ESOs). This includes
social media platforms, search engines,
e-commerce platforms, games, and
communications services, and applies
both to Indonesian services and to
multinationals such as Facebook, Twitter,
Google, and TikTok.
Granting the government authority to
regulate private ESO activity, MR5 gives
authorities access to user data, and provides
for sweeping notice and take-down orders. In
June 2022, the Ministry of Communications
announced a July deadline for online actors
to register with it or face consequences.
WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and
Instagram are extremely popular among
users in Indonesia, and between a third
and half of Indonesians report getting their
news from these platforms. Because of
this popularity, much attention has been
directed to social media’s role in spreading
disinformation, political propaganda,
‘hoaxes’, and hate speech. COVID-19
led to a flood of misinformation, and
the presidential election scheduled for
2024 has likewise prompted widespread
concern about the use of automated
accounts and paid commentators, locally
known as ‘buzzers’, to promote various
political interests.
In response to the prevalence of
disinformation on social media, Indonesia
is home to the Indonesian anti-hoax
community, Mafindo, a multi-stakeholder
NGO with more than 15,000 members.
Along with Cek Fakta, a collaborative
organisation devoted to fact-checking,
Mafindo offers citizens a means of
stopping dissemination of disinformation
on social media.
Indonesian media continue to suffer a loss
of advertising revenue. The newspaper
Republika,
founded in 1993 to serve the
Muslim community, stopped its print
edition in December 2022, going online
only. The BBC World Service ended its
Indonesian-language radio broadcasts in
September, although its digital presence
remains. Podcasting is a growing area, with
many newcomers following the lead of the
country’s most popular podcaster, Nadhifa
Allya Tsana. However it’s not a hunger for
news which is behind the growth. Research
by PodNews
105
indicates that it’s actually
Gen-Z’s desire for wellness-related content
which is driving the sector – Tsana’s
background is in writing romantic novels.
Janet Steele
Professor of Media and Public Affairs and
International Affairs, George Washington
University
104
105
https://cpj.org/2022/12/indonesia-adopts-new-criminal-code-that-undermines-press-freedom/
https://podnews.net/article/podcast-in-asia-indonesia-vietnam
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0133.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Kompas
TVOne
Metro TV
Kompas TV
CNN
Liputan 6 (SCTV)
TransTV
RCTI
Indosiar
TVRI (public broadcaster)
Tempo
Media Indonesia
Regional or local newspaper
BBC News
Koran Sindo
Republika
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
14
14
14
13
12
11
10
8
29
29
28
25
39
40
46
45
Axis
Digital News Report 2023 | Indonesia
Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Detik.com
Kompas online
CNN.com
Tribunnews online
Metro TV News online
TVOne News online
Liputan 6 (SCTV News online)
Kumparan.com
Viva.co.id
Tempo.co
Okezone
Idntimes news
25
23
23
20
18
17
17
16
16
15
14
12
34
32
45
61
133
Seputar Indonesia (RCTI News online)
Merdeka.com
BBC News online
Jawa Pos online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2021–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Online and social media remain the most popular
sources of news in Indonesia with our more urban
sample, but TV and radio remain important for the
millions of people who are not online.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
89%
84%
65%
54%
64%
58%
50%
19%
TRUST
20%
0%
15%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
CNN
Detik.com
Jawa Pos
Kompas
Trust
68%
63%
54%
69%
50%
57%
52%
64%
52%
48%
60%
44%
55%
60%
66%
Neither Don’t Trust
26%
30%
40%
26%
40%
36%
41%
30%
40%
44%
32%
45%
36%
29%
30%
6%
7%
6%
6%
10%
7%
8%
6%
8%
9%
8%
11%
9%
12%
5%
Overall trust in news remains stable at 39% for the third year in a row. The five most
trusted brands – Kompas, CNN, TVRI, Liputan6, and Detik.com – have remained
stable over the past three years, with Kompas (69%) edging out CNN (68%) as the
most trusted brand for the first time since the
Digital News Report
began tracking
in 2021.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2021–23
100%
Kumparan.com
Local television news
Merdeka.com
SCTV (Liputan6)
Sindonews.com
Suara.com
Tempo
Tirto.id
Tribunnews
TVOne
TVRI
50%
39%
39%
39%
108
For News
0%
2021
2023
=22/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
54.83
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
38%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
WhatsApp
2
YouTube
3
Facebook
4
Instagram
5
TikTok
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
51% (-3)
48% (+2)
38% (-6)
82%
78%
59%
37%
(-)
63%
39%
33%
22% (+6)
21% (+1)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0134.png
134
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
127m
93%
JAPAN
Japan’s inflation rate hit the highest level in over four decades,
squeezing household budgets. These economic shocks, coming on
top of COVID-19 lockdowns, look set to accelerate further changes
in the country’s media landscape, once characterised by strong daily
newspaper and television networks.
Daily newspaper circulation has fallen by
around a third in the last decade, from 47.8
million in 2012 to 30.8 million last year.
106
Commercial broadcasters, especially ones
that provide local news services, continue
to be badly affected by lower advertising
revenues, prompting debate about changing
their licence remit, to allow them to
broadcast over wider areas. Meanwhile, the
public broadcaster NHK announced plans
to reduce the annual fee its viewers pay by
around 10% from October 2023 to ease the
impact of the cost of living. The corporation
will cut one of its satellite channels in
addition to reducing AM radio services, as
part of its plans to balance the books.
While making money from digital media
remains difficult, some traditional news
brands are accelerating their online
strategies. The country’s leading liberal
daily,
Asahi Shimbun,
took a bold step to
put all its articles behind a hard paywall
for the first time. At the same time, the
paper introduced a new service that
enables subscribers to share two to five
stories as ‘gifts’ to their friends for 24
hours.
Nikkei,
a pioneer in pushing digital
business models, has also been tightening
its paywall strategy with non-subscribers
allowed to read just one article a month
instead of the previous ten. Meanwhile,
the conservative daily,
Yomiuri Shinbun,
which still has the largest print circulation
in Japan (6.6 million), continues to restrict
digital access to print subscribers, in a bid
protect its highly profitable newspaper
business. It still does not offer a digital-only
subscription.
Digital-born players are gaining ground
in the wider media ecosystem. Abema
TV, a streaming TV service co-owned
by internet entertainment company
Cyberagent and commercial broadcaster
TV Asahi, live-streamed the World Cup
football in December 2022.
107
It was an
unprecedented move by an internet
TV service to successfully deliver all 64
games to as many as 23 million viewers
for free – a stark contrast to commercial
broadcasters who failed to broadcast
some games despite having paid expensive
broadcasting rights.
Yahoo! Japan and LINE announced a
merger, streamlining its operation. Yahoo!’s
news provision has a massive readership,
and LINE is Japan’s dominant messaging
app, with its LINE NEWS aggregator
widely used by the younger generation.
Both already operate under the ownership
of Z holdings, backed by SoftBank
conglomerate, but the further integration
is aimed at cutting costs, driving better
products, and more innovation.
108
The COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine,
and the shooting of former Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe have all raised awareness
about the dangers of misinformation
and disinformation in a fast-paced and
more socially driven news environment.
In October 2022, a Tokyo-based non-
profit organisation launched the Japan
Fact-Check Center made up of journalists
and academics. Supported by donations
from Yahoo! Japan and Google, it plans
to publish ten articles a month on the
authenticity of information in online
spaces. In a further move to improve the
quality of online debate, Yahoo! Japan
made it mandatory for users to register
mobile phone numbers before posting
comments on its news stories.
In March 2023, a controversy erupted
in the national diet (parliament) over
the government’s interpretation of
political impartiality in broadcasting.
The opposition party revealed a leaked
document showing how the administration
of then Prime Minister Abe put pressure
on the Ministry of Communications to
extend the interpretation to cover a single
broadcast programme, rather than judging
political impartiality over the entirety of
the output.
Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s
closest aide was forced to resign after
the
Mainichi Shimbun
newspaper
109
reported a homophobic comment during
a background briefing. These briefings are
held under the rule that reporters do not
name the source, but the paper justified its
action by saying it was in the public interest
since the comment seriously violated the
rights of sexual minorities.
Mainichi
let the
aide know in advance that it was naming
him, but the decision has raised wider
questions about trust of journalism and
the circumstances under which journalists
should break promises to protect the
anonymity of their sources.
Yasuomi Sawa
Journalist and Professor at the Department
of Journalism, Senshu University
Reiko Saisho
NHK, Broadcasting Culture Research Institute
106
107
108
109
https://www.pressnet.or.jp/english/data/circulation/circulation01.php
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/12/06/business/tech/2022-fifa-world-cup-abema-livestream/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/03/business/corporate-business/z-holdings-yahoo-japan-line-merger/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/02/05/national/politics-diplomacy/masayoshi-arai-japan-same-sex-marriage-hate/
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2841850_0135.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
NHK News (public broadcaster)
Nippon TV (NTV)
TV Asahi News
Fuji TV News
TBS News
TV Tokyo News
Regional or local newspaper
Commercial radio news
Yomiuri Shimbun
Asahi Shimbun
Nikkei
BBC News
CNN
Mainichi Shimbun
Sports newspaper
Weekly Bunshun
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
7
4
4
4
3
3
12
12
8
17
16
36
35
37
44
41
Axis Line
Digital News Report 2023 | Japan
on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Yahoo! News
NHK News online
Nippon TV News online
TV Asahi News online
TBS News online
Fuji TV News online
Yomiuri Shimbun online
Nikkei online
Asahi Shimbun Digital
9
8
8
7
7
7
7
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
51
135
Regional or local newspaper online
Abema TV
TV Tokyo News online
Toyo Keizai online
Commercial radio news online
Nikkei Business online
Mainichi online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2015–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
In Japan’s super-ageing society, where over-65s
make up almost a third (29%) of the population, the
generational gap in media consumption is widening.
Older people still cling to TV and print, but younger
groups mainly get news from online aggregators and
also from social media.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
73%
70%
50%
61%
51%
46%
9%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
24%
21%
25%
23%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Asahi Shimbun
Fuji TV News
Local newspaper
Mainichi Shimbun
Trust
46%
53%
53%
48%
61%
55%
55%
48%
54%
51%
53%
28%
29%
49%
51%
Neither Don’t Trust
34%
33%
36%
37%
27%
35%
33%
39%
32%
33%
36%
42%
45%
36%
35%
20%
14%
11%
16%
12%
11%
12%
14%
13%
16%
11%
31%
26%
15%
13%
Trust in the news remains stable after it bounced back from two years of decline
between 2019 and 2020. There is no significant difference in the level of trust in
news in general versus ‘the news I consume’, which Japanese academics point to
as a unique character of the Japanese market, indicating the consumers’ passive
behaviour or even apathy towards news.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2015–23
100%
NHK News
Nikkei
Nippon TV News
Sankei Shimbun
TBS News
TV Asahi News
TV Tokyo News
Weekly Bunshun
Weekly Shincho
Yahoo! News
Yomiuri Shimbun
50%
46%
42%
42%
68
/ 180
0%
2015
2023
=17/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
63.95
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
13%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
YouTube
2
Twitter
3
Line
4
Instagram
5
Facebook
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
26% (+4)
16% (-2)
13% (-3)
58%
32%
38%
4%
4%
(-)
(-1)
23%
14%
9%
3% (+1)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0136.png
136
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
33m
94%
MALAYSIA
Three years of the pandemic, lockdowns, and political and economic
uncertainty have deepened the worries of the already-struggling
Malaysian print media. On the other hand, social media apps such
as TikTok became politically central to the recent election campaign,
raising concerns for the new government.
There was the initial uncertainty and fear
of a hung parliament after the 15th General
Elections (GE15) in November 2022 when
no one party or coalition was able to
form the new government. Nonetheless,
a quickly cobbled-together ‘unity
government’ was formed, based on the
advice and with the consent of Malaysia’s
constitutional monarch, and led by the
charismatic Anwar Ibrahim.
The first few months of the Unity
government have seen some worrying –
and other, more positive – developments
for the media. On the plus side, talks
about setting up an independent, self-
regulated Media Council were revived
by the new Communications and Digital
Minister, after having been taken off the
agenda by the two previous, short-lived
regimes. There remains the question
of the funding of the Council which, it is
envisioned, will come through taxation.
It is anticipated that repeal of long-
standing oppressive media laws such as
the Printing Presses and Publications Act
1984 (PPPA) will follow.
On the minus side, religious and racial hate
speech on social media has been on the
rise, especially during and immediately
after the GE15 campaign period. After
the election, TikTok removed 1,126 videos
deemed ‘provocative and extreme’ after
a meeting with the Communications and
Digital Ministry officials.
110
The government
says it is looking at allegations that political
parties also paid content creators to
disseminate their narratives on TikTok.
The app has been growing rapidly in the
last few years, according to our Digital
News Report survey, with four in ten (42%)
using it for any purpose and around a
quarter (24%) for news – up 9 percentage
points on last year.
110
111
112
Apart from official acts of censorship,
the new government and the numerous
media organisations do not appear to
have constructive ideas to counter such
hate speech or to come up with a strategy
providing a different, inclusive narrative.
Indeed, when there was a belated backlash
against a 2021 film,
Mentega Terbang
(a
play on the word ‘butterfly’) that was only
streamed online and not played in Malaysian
cinemas, the ministry sided with the
conservatives, reportedly saying that they
‘would take action against the controversial
film’ which was officially deemed as going
‘against Islamic teachings’.
111
What is evident over the past year is that
the media industry, which is still recovering
from the pandemic, faces a number of
key challenges. First, financial problems
continue to affect print publications with
the fallout from the closure of Malaysia’s
biggest national-language newspaper,
Utusan Malaysia
(UM), in October 2019
still being felt; 800 workers were laid off
then and many took UM to court over
compensation benefits. The paper was
relaunched nine months later under new
ownership and is still finding its way in a
competitive market.*
Second, trust issues still prevail, with social
media seemingly being more immediate,
exciting, and easily digested by many
Malaysians, especially during the election
campaign of November 2022.
112
Third, we are seeing more political
influence being exercised over a number
of online news organisations. Free
Malaysia Today and The Vibes are two
companies run by individuals closely
aligned with senior political party leaders.
Since GE15, The Vibes has been at the
forefront in providing positive news of
Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity government.
Both the founders of the still-independent
Malaysiakini news portal, Steven Gan and
Premesh Chandran, left the organisation
this past year, Gan retiring and Chandran
moving to an international funding agency.
Whether the popular Malaysiakini will
change direction remains to be seen,
although Gan has openly stated that
safeguards are already in place to ensure
Malaysiakini remains independent both
financially and politically.
Astro Awani, which has second highest
reach in both the offline and online news
sources list, continues to be innovative and
quite critical in a broadcast environment
that appears to be on a downward
trajectory as a source for news, certainly
since 2021. Looking ahead, Awani has been
designing new programmes for Malaysia’s
youth, presented by talent drawn from a
new generation.
All in, the past year has been very much
a year of consolidation for the main news
media brands while they wait to see how
media policy develops. On the one hand
Anwar Ibrahim’s reformist party talks
about letting an independent media self-
regulate, but on the other, it conforms
to the dictates of the more conservative
elements in the coalition when it comes
to questions of censorship and freedom
of expression.
Zaharom Nain
University of Nottingham in Malaysia
‘Tik Tok Took Down 1,126 Provocative Videos After GE15, says Fahmi’, TheStar online. 7 Dec. 2022. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/12/07/tiktok-took-down-1126-
provocative-videos-after-ge15-says-fahmi
https://worldofbuzz.com/fahmi-controversial-mentega-terbang-film-has-been-removed-from-streaming-service/
Centre for Independent Journalism Malaysia, ‘Social Media Monitoring of Malaysia’s 15th General Elections’, unpublished project report in partnership with the University of Nottingham
Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2023, 11–32.
* Please note that we did not ask survey respondents about the print version of
Utusan Malaysia
(UM) in our 2023 survey due to an oversight. As a result the brand is not represented as
might be expected in the offline section opposite.
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0137.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TV3
Astro Awani (24-hour news)
Harian Metro
Berita Harian
Sinar Harian
21
21
19
16
12
12
9
9
9
9
8
8
27
34
29
50
Digital News Report 2023 | Malaysia
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Malaysiakini
Astro Awani online
Berita Harian online
Harian Metro online
The Star online
Sinar Harian online
Siakap Keli
Malaysia Today
Free Malaysia Today
Bernama.com
Utusan Malaysia online
Yahoo! News
The Malaysian Insight
BBC News online
Malay Mail online
CNN.com
11
10
10
10
14
27
26
25
22
21
21
20
20
16
39
48
137
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (public broadcaster)
The Star
TV9 News
New Straits Times
8TV News
Al-Hijrah
Bernama News Channel
BBC News
NTV7 News
CNN
Sin Chew Daily
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Weekly use of print newspapers has more than halved
since 2017, but television news is also becoming less
important. Social media is a convenient alternative with
Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and now TikTok being
key platforms for accessing news.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
86%
67%
57%
50%
89%
74%
45%
46%
18%
TRUST
19%
0%
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Astro Awani
Berita Harian
Free Malaysia Today
Harian Metro
Trust
70%
63%
55%
59%
63%
66%
61%
48%
61%
55%
64%
62%
63%
57%
53%
Neither Don’t Trust
21%
26%
30%
28%
24%
24%
28%
36%
27%
32%
25%
23%
27%
28%
33%
10%
11%
15%
13%
13%
11%
11%
16%
12%
13%
11%
15%
10%
15%
15%
News trust overall (40%) is up by 4pp on last year, along with the trust levels of most
individual brands – perhaps reflecting the optimism felt with a new government
promising some reforms. National-language and vernacular newspapers have
long been recognised as often being politically owned and aligned, affecting trust.
This process is now affecting some digital-born outlets too.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
Malaysiakini
Radio Televisyen Malaysia
Regional or local newspaper
Sin Chew Daily
Sinar Harian
The Malaysian Insight
The Star
TV3 News
TV9 News
Utusan Malaysia
Yahoo! News
50%
29%
0%
2017
2023
40%
40%
73
/ 180
=20/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
62.83
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
44%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
YouTube
4
Instagram
5
TikTok
6
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
51% (-1)
45% (-2)
37% (-2)
70%
77%
71%
24%
(-)
47%
42%
27%
24% (+9)
18% (-4)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0138.png
138
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
112m
91%
PHILIPPINES
The Philippine media landscape remains largely grim despite the
change in the country’s leadership in mid-2022. Attacks on journalists,
which escalated during the six-year presidency of Rodrigo Duterte,
have not let up since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office.
Dozens of violations of press freedom have
already been recorded under Marcos’s
watch – 75 cases between June 2022 and
April 2023 – topped by the killing of two
hard-hitting radio commentators and
increasing use of legal action (‘lawfare’)
against journalists.
113
A prominent critic of
Duterte and Marcos, Percival Mabasa, was
gunned down south of Manila in October,
and soon afterwards death threats were
sent to at least three journalists on social
media. Police in plain clothes paid ‘surprise
visits’ to homes of several reporters,
stoking fears of surveillance of journalists.
‘Red-tagging’ of journalists – being branded
as a communist or terrorist – persists.
The targets come from mainstream and
alternative media alike: journalists from
ABS-CBN and GMA networks,
Philippine
Daily Inquirer,
Rappler and Bulatlat news
sites, the community paper
Northern
Dispatch,
and representatives of media
organisations such as the National Union
of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
Among those behind the systematic
red-tagging is Sonshine Media Network
International (SMNI), a far-right broadcast
network owned by religious leader Apollo
Quiboloy, wanted by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation for sex trafficking and
corruption charges. SMNI, which was
awarded a free-to-air frequency that
ABS-CBN had held till Congress rejected
its franchise renewal application in
2020, is included in this year’s survey:
12% of respondents said they accessed
online news from SMNI, demonstrating
its popularity since the 2022 election
despite having been flagged for peddling
disinformation. The latest to join the
network’s roster of commentators is
Duterte himself who in January revived
his weekly show
Gikan sa Masa, Para sa
Masa
(From the Masses, For the Masses)
days before the International Criminal
Court announced the reopening of its
investigation into possible ‘crimes against
humanity’ arising from his brutal antidrug
campaign. Duterte’s programme originally
aired on ABS-CBN Davao from 2001 to
2015 when he was city mayor.
In response to the spike of cyber libel and
other criminal cases against journalists,
the NUJP teamed up with lawyers’ groups
to launch Project Lawfare for their
defence. As one example of the extent
of these actions, two broadcasters in
southern Luzon are facing 941 counts of
cyber libel lodged by a provincial governor.
Rappler, which was repeatedly attacked
by Duterte when he was president, and its
CEO and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa were
acquitted of tax evasion in January. But six
months earlier, an appellate court upheld
a decision convicting her and a former
colleague of cyber libel and even increased
their prison sentence, and public perception
of the site is no doubt in part influenced
by ongoing social media attacks from
influencers, partisan activists, and others.
Radio and TV brands remain the most
popular media overall in the Philippines,
with the big GMA Network having a
dominant audience share: 53% accessed
it offline and 48% online. In February, the
network began broadcasting morning
news programmes in several regions,
further boosting local TV news.
GMA’s longtime competitor, the Lopez-
owned ABS-CBN Corp., was stripped
of its franchise in 2020 but continues
to broadcast online and via various
agreements. Its long-running nightly
newscast,
TV Patrol,
simulcasts on its
own cable channels as well as A2Z of
the evangelical church-owned Zoe
Broadcasting, and is now among the top
20 most-viewed TV programmes. But a
multimillion-dollar deal with TV5 that
was supposed to pave its return to free
TV was terminated in September amid
threats of lawmakers and the government
to investigate it for possible violations of
the law. Meanwhile ABS-CBN is closing its
TeleRadyo news channel to stem further
financial losses and will seek to distribute
its content via new partnerships.
ALLTV, owned by business mogul and
Duterte-Marcos ally Manuel Villar,
debuted in September on the frequency
once assigned to ABS-CBN. Instead of
producing its own news programmes, it
tied up with CNN Philippines to broadcast
the recently revived hourlong
News Night.
In answer to falling sales and rising costs
of community publications impacted
by economic downturn, inflation, and
the pandemic, the Philippine Press
Institute, an association of newspaper
publishers, in October converted the PPI
News Commons into a news aggregator
with its 70 members on board, in hopes
of leveraging the wider market base to
attract ads. Last year, the Philippines
became the first market in Southeast Asia
to roll out Ads for News,
114
a global effort
that seeks to direct digital advertising to
trustworthy local news outlets screened to
exclude disinformation and other content
unsuitable for brands. Three big Philippine
corporations have initially agreed to take
part in the programme.
Yvonne T. Chua
University of the Philippines
113
114
https://pcij.org/article/10122/2023-state-of-press-freedom-in-the-philippines
https://www.adsfornews.org/
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
GMA Network (24 Oras, Saksi, GTV)
ABS-CBN (TV Patrol, ANC, Kapamilya)
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Philippine Star
CNN Philippines
Manila Bulletin
28
27
24
23
19
16
13
13
12
10
10
9
9
7
41
53
Digital News
layers:
Axis Line on both
Report 2023 | Philippines
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
GMA News online
ABS-CBN News online
40
36
26
26
24
24
20
18
16
12
12
12
10
10
9
48
139
Philippine Daily Inquirer online
Yahoo! News
Rappler
Philippine Star online
CNN Philippines online
Manila Bulletin online
TV5 News online
PEP.ph
MSN News
BuzzFeed News
SMNI News online
Manila Times online
BBC News online
DZRH online
TV5 (Frontline Pilipinas, One PH, One News)
Local radio news
TeleRadyo
Super Radyo DZBB (Super Balita)
Local television news
DZRH News (Manila Broadcasting Co.)
PTV News
Balita
BBC News
Radyo Pilipinas News/DZRB
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2020–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Online and social media remain the most popular
sources of news in the Philippines with our more urban
sample, while TV and radio news remain important for
those who are not online. TikTok has grown the fastest
among the social media platforms, accessed for news
now by 21% compared with only 2% in 2020.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
85%
68%
66%
50%
86%
70%
52%
16%
TRUST
22%
14%
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Abante/Abante Tonight
ABS-CBN
DZRH
GMA Network
Manila Bulletin
Philippine Daily Inquirer
PTV
Radyo Pilipinas
Rappler
Regional or local newspaper
SunStar
Super Balita DZBB
TeleRadyo
The Philippine Star
TV5 Information
Trust
50%
62%
68%
74%
68%
68%
61%
61%
47%
64%
58%
68%
66%
68%
68%
Neither Don’t Trust
35%
20%
25%
19%
23%
21%
27%
30%
21%
29%
32%
24%
25%
23%
22%
15%
18%
7%
8%
9%
11%
12%
9%
33%
8%
10%
8%
8%
8%
10%
Overall trust in news, boosted to some extent by the COVID-19 pandemic as Filipinos
came to rely more on the news media, remains stable at 38%. Many of the longest
established media brands such as GMA Network and the
Philippine Daily Inquirer
have
relatively high levels of trust but some independent outlets respected for their
reporting on those in positions of power are often actively distrusted by supporters of
the politicians in question and subject to coordinated harassment, so scores should
not be seen as a measure of the quality or trustworthiness of the content.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2020–23
100%
50%
27%
0%
2020
38%
38%
132
For News
2023
=24/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
46.21
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
47%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
4
TikTok
5
Twitter
6
Instagram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
72% (-1)
55% (-2)
84%
80%
68%
21% (+6)
16%
(-)
14% (-1)
42%
27%
38%
3
Facebook Messenger 33% (-2)
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0140.png
140
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
5.9m
92%
SINGAPORE
Singapore has become a regional base for many media and technology
companies due its political stability, educated workforce, and
good communications. TikTok has even based one of its two global
headquarters in the city state, and with a charismatic local CEO,
the app is growing in popularity with young Singaporeans.
In March, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
underwent four and a half hours of
often hostile questioning before a US
congressional committee. He defended the
app from accusations that it was a tool of
global influence for China, that it collected
user data, and from calls that it should be
banned. When asked if his own children
used the app, he said they did not, adding
that TikTok’s version for children younger
than 13 is not available in Singapore.
Born in Singapore to Chinese parents,
Chew studied in London and at Harvard,
did an internship at Facebook, and worked
as an investment banker before he joined
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance as
chief financial officer. He became CEO
in 2021. In preparation for the hearings,
he posted a video on TikTok of himself
addressing the US public, pointing out
that more than half of the US population
uses the app and that 7,000 Americans are
employed by it.
The app is growing in popularity in
Singapore as elsewhere – it reaches 49%
of 18–24s every week, and 22% for news
according to our survey – but it is not
without controversy. Public officials have
been reminded they are not permitted to
install the app on official devices, and it
has been added to the list of social media
companies that are required to have
formal processes and systems for dealing
with misinformation, under the country’s
Protection from Online Falsehoods and
Manipulation Act (POFMA).
115
This includes
transparency over political advertising.
The Act is among the latest additions to
Singapore’s extensive regulations for offline
and online news platforms. The Newspaper
and Printing Presses Act governs the
licensing of newspaper companies while the
Broadcasting Act regulates the licensing of
broadcasting services as well as internet
content providers, including online news
sites. Since 2013, the government has also
required individual licensing for online
news sites that publish regular articles on
Singapore news and current affairs and have
large numbers of monthly visitors.
That definitely describes the digital-native
Mothership, an alternative news site which
converts viral social media posts into short-
form articles and videos. It has become
the most used online news source for the
first time (used weekly by 48%). Launched
in 2014, it has now surpassed the news
sites of mainstream competitors such as
Mediacorp’s Channel NewsAsia (46%) and
SMT’s
The Straits Times
(42%).
In December 2021, Singapore Press
Holdings, publisher of most of Singapore’s
printed newspapers, carved out its media
interests into a new non-profit entity, SPH
Media Trust (SMT). It is now the parent
company for the
Straits Times
(English-
language),
Lianhe Zaobao
(Chinese),
Berita
Harian
(Malay), and
Tamil Murasu
(Tamil).
In 2023, it said some employees left or
were asked to leave after an internal
audit found that the organisation had
inflated its circulation rates by about
10 to 12% between 2020 and 2022.
116
The government had previously made a
commitment of S$900 million (US$681m)
to support SMT’s digital transition, to be
paid over five years; it later confirmed
the funding would not be affected by the
circulation scandal. TV and radio operator
Mediacorp, owned by the government
through investment company Temasek,
saw falls in usage in our data as audiences’
preferences move towards online media.
Facebook continues to face a decline
(36%), while YouTube (30%), Instagram
(19%), and TikTok (12%) were able to grow
as platforms for news. WhatsApp remains
the most used social app for news (38%).
In September 2022, news site The Online
Citizen went back online, a year after taking
down its website and social media pages
after the government suspended its licence
for refusing to declare its funding sources.
Its editor relocated and now supposedly
publishes the website from Taiwan.
117
The
government insisted that the site was still
subject to the POFMA regulations, and the
following month issued a correction notice
to the site, asking it to correct an article
it published about Singapore housing
board’s supposed budget deficits. The site’s
readership remains low, with 11% saying
they access it weekly. Trust in the brand
(38%) also remains lower than that of
mainstream news outlets.
Edson Tandoc Jr.
and
Matthew Chew
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication
and Information, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore
115
116
117
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/tiktok-added-to-list-of-internet-companies-with-additional-pofma-responsibilities
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/senior-sph-media-staff-taken-to-task-or-have-left-company-after-review-finds-issues-with-circulation-data
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/online-citizen-website-facebook-instagram-reactivated-editor-terry-xu-relocate-taiwan-2942936
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0141.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
The Straits Times
MediaCorp Channel News Asia
MediaCorp Channel 8 News
MediaCorp Channel 5 News
CNN
MediaCorp Radio News
BBC News
Lianhe Zaobao
The Business Times
Shin Min Daily
MediaCorp Suria Berita
37
13
Digital
both layers:
Axis Line on
News Report 2023 | Singapore
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Mothership.sg
Channel News Asia online
Straits Times online
Yahoo! News
Today online
AsiaOne.com
STOMP
Mustsharenews.com
BBC News online
CNN.com
The Online Citizen
All Singapore Stu
The Independent
Zaobao online
The New Paper online
16
15
13
13
11
11
9
8
8
7
23
21
19
42
48
46
141
10
33
8
26
9
24
5
14
4
12
5
11
4
9
4
8
3
7
2
7
3
2
1
Berita Harian
3
5
Other news media from outside Singapore
MediaCorp Tamil Seithi
Tamil Murasu
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
South China Morning Post (SCMP) online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Online and social media remain the most common
ways of accessing news in Singapore, while both TV and
print have declined significantly over the last few years.
Most survey participants do not pay for news, with only
15% saying they do so.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
85%
61%
57%
53%
84%
58%
44%
22%
50%
15%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
29%
listen to
PODCASTS
in the last month
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
All Singapore Stuff
BBC News
CNN
Lianhe Zaobao
Trust
36%
65%
66%
61%
73%
70%
75%
68%
52%
55%
59%
38%
73%
65%
54%
Neither Don’t Trust
43%
27%
24%
28%
20%
22%
20%
24%
34%
31%
29%
42%
19%
27%
34%
20%
8%
9%
11%
7%
7%
6%
8%
14%
14%
12%
21%
8%
8%
12%
Mainstream outlets remain as the most trusted news brands, and overall trust
remains stable at 45%. Mediacorp’s Channel NewsAsia (75%) and Channel 5 (73%)
and SMT’s
The Straits Times
(73%) remain the most trusted brands, all gaining 3pp
from 2022. Despite its popularity, Mothership still lags, seeing a slight decrease in
its brand trust (52%).
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
MediaCorp Channel 5 News
MediaCorp Channel 8 News
MediaCorp Channel News Asia
MediaCorp Radio News
Mothership.sg
Shin Min Daily
The New Paper
The Online Citizen Asia
The Straits Times
Today online
Yahoo! News
50%
41%
45%
45%
129
For News
0%
2017
2023
12/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
47.88
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
34%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
WhatsApp
2
Facebook
3
YouTube
4
Instagram
5
Telegram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
38% (-1)
36% (-3)
30% (+2)
83%
62%
71%
19% (+2)
18%
(-)
12% (+5)
50%
42%
29%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0142.png
142
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
51m
97%
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea’s media ecosystem is characterised by strong
broadcasters, a newspaper sector struggling to adapt to digital change,
and low trust in the news. Powerful Korean-owned portals dominate
the distribution of news online but media companies are trying to
change that by experimenting with new business models and formats.
News organisations and CEOs, in their
New Year speeches, have increasingly been
using the phrase ‘post-portal’ to describe
a world where they are less dependent on
third-party aggregators such as Naver and
Daum. Media companies and academics
have been discussing the possibility of
setting up an alternative portal that would
offers similar levels of convenience but
better incentives for quality journalism
to thrive.
One key challenge to any such plan is the
low level of audience trust in the news
media, which is among the lowest in
our global survey at just 28%. Detailed
Korea Press Foundation (KPF) research,
based on a survey of 60,000 people, has
also shown that the news media score
consistently badly for concepts like trust
and fairness, but do a bit better in terms
of perceived independence and also the
influence that the news media have on
society. Respondents gave particularly
low marks to the performance of the
Korean media in representing the
socially underprivileged, monitoring
the government and public figures, and
keeping an eye on corporate activities.
118
Media outlets continue to experiment
with paid subscription models – as well as
short-form video production – to better
respond to changing audience and business
trends. After the two major newspapers –
Chosun Ilbo
and
JoongAng Ilbo
– introduced
‘login wall’ in 2021,
Korea Economic Daily
and broadcaster SBS also jumped on the
bandwagon. In October 2022, JoongAng
Ilbo
rolled out a full-fledged paid premium
subscription model titled The JoongAng
Plus. The ‘newspaper of record’ is pushing
for a dual-track strategy where general
news remains distributed through portals
free of charge, while premium content is
offered only through paid subscriptions.
Other newspapers such as
Maeil Business
Newspaper, Kyunghyang Shinmun,
and
Hankook Ilbo
are reviewing paid subscription
models while closely watching JoongAng
Ilbo’s
move.
Meanwhile, a host of media outlets,
especially TV networks with a competitive
edge in video content, are investing heavily
in short-form video news for TikTok and
other social media platforms. Only a small
proportion (4%) use TikTok for news,
despite the strong attention it draws
outside Korea. But short-form video is
also being strongly promoted by YouTube,
which has grown rapidly in recent years as
a news platform. Over half our sample use
YouTube (53%) for news each week – up 9
percentage points on last year.
The big TV news networks, YTN, KBS,
SBS, MBC, and JTBC, all produce bespoke
video for social platforms where reporters
explain news items that are likely to attract
the attention of the younger generation
with a more informal and lighter tone. On
other occasions they re-edit television
content on topics ranging from accidents
and disasters to politics. Newspapers have
been slower to invest as they often lack
video production and editing skills.
On the evening of 29 October 2022,
a number of Halloween partygoers
squeezed into a narrow alley in the Itaewon
neighbourhood of Seoul, resulting in a
deadly crowd crush. In a previous disaster
– when the Sewol ferry sank in 2014 and
many people were killed – Korean media
reported wrongly that ‘all passengers
have been rescued’. This resulted from the
media’s practice, at the time, of uncritical
reporting of government or company
statements without fact-checking.
In the wake of the disaster, media
organisations such as the Journalists
Association of Korea drew up a set of
guidelines for reporting disasters. In the
case of the Halloween accident, research
shows that the media were seen to have
improved their practices by mostly
refraining from intruding excessively on
the privacy of victims or showing overly
graphic images or videos. However, some
local media were criticised for sensational
and provocative coverage of the initial
stages of the crowd crush. The Korea Press
Ethics Commission gave an official warning
to some media outlets for repeatedly
showing graphic scenes of the crowd crush,
including videos of people performing CPR
on the victims.
The Itaewon accident has also highlighted
the psychological damage that journalists
who witness traumatic scenes can suffer
in the course of field reporting. Some
reporters covering the disaster have
complained of health problems since the
incident and the Journalists Association of
Korea has been offering extra advice and
psychological support.
Hyunwoo Lee
Senior Researcher, Korea Press Foundation
118
Korea Press Foundation,
Media Users in Korea 2022.
https://www.kpf.or.kr/synap/skin/doc.html?fn=1675144529256.pdf&rs=/synap/result/research
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
KBS News (public broadcaster)
MBC News (public broadcaster)
YTN
SBS News
JTBC News
YonhapNews TV
TV Chosun News
MBN News
Channel A News
Chosun Ilbo
Joongang Ilbo
Maeil Business Newspaper
Hankyoreh
Korea Economic Daily
Dong-A Ilbo
Kyunghyang Shinmun
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
18
16
16
14
13
11
10
10
10
7
31
29
38
38
44
42
Digital
on both layers:
Axis Line
News Report 2023 | South Korea
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Naver (news portal)
Daum (news portal)
MBC News online
YTN online
KBS News online
SBS News online
JTBC News online
YonhapNews TV online
Chosun Ilbo online
Yonhap News online
TV Chosun online
11
11
10
10
10
9
9
13
25
24
23
23
19
19
16
61
143
Maeil Business Newspaper online
Joongang Ilbo online
Korea Economic Daily online
Channel A News online
Hankyoreh online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2016–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
News consumption in Korea is mostly reliant on
online portals such as Naver and Daum, as well as
a competitive broadcast sector, with print media
becoming less influential over time. Social video
platforms such as YouTube have become much more
important for the discovery and consumption of news.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
86%
71%
79%
65%
45%
50%
11%
TRUST
32%
28%
15%
0%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Channel A News
Chosun Ilbo
Dong-A Ilbo
Hankyoreh
Trust
39%
33%
35%
40%
36%
52%
55%
37%
58%
39%
35%
53%
36%
48%
55%
Neither Don’t Trust
29%
26%
31%
32%
32%
29%
27%
37%
23%
35%
40%
29%
25%
31%
28%
32%
40%
34%
28%
32%
19%
19%
25%
20%
27%
25%
18%
39%
21%
17%
Koreans’ trust in the news has been stuck at a low level, with just 28% of respondents
saying that they ‘trust most news most of the time’. The most trusted individual
news brand was MBC, one of the public broadcasters in South Korea, which showed
a significant year-on-year increase. This was followed by other major broadcasters,
such as YTN, KBS, SBS, and JTBC. Most major newspapers have lower levels of trust.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2016–23
100%
Joongang Ilbo
JTBC News
KBS News
Kyunghyang Shinmun
MBC News
MBN News
Regional or local newspaper
SBS News
TV Chosun News
YonhapNews TV
YTN
50%
22%
0%
2016
2023
28%
28%
47
/ 180
=41/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
70.83
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
25%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
YouTube
2
Kakao Talk
3
Instagram
4
Facebook
5
Twitter
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
53% (+9)
22% (-2)
12% (+1)
77%
69%
40%
10% (-4)
4%
(-2)
4% (+1)
27%
12%
10%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0144.png
144
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
24m
95%
TAIWAN
Tensions with China reached a new pitch in the past year, putting
the media on an emergency footing. Taiwan has a lively and
combative media but there are differences in opinion on how
to tackle misinformation, not only between political parties
but also between pro-independence and pro-unification media.
As the war in Ukraine continued, tensions
in the Taiwan Strait were heightened
with worries that China might follow
Russia’s lead. Nearly 200 foreign officials
visited Taiwan in 2022 to discuss how to
contain Chinese ambitions. Following
the visits, China stepped up its display of
military force, as it pressed its claim to
sovereignty over democratically governed
Taiwan. Undersea cables linking Taiwan
and its outlying Matzu islands near China
were severed by Chinese fishing boats.
Chinese radio stations also aired messages
encouraging Taiwanese to work in China
and promoting unification.
Following the October 2022 visit of
Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the US
House of Representatives, a large number
of cyberattacks were carried out on
Taiwanese government websites.
119
TV
displays in some railway stations were
hacked to show messages such as ‘The
great China will eventually be reunited’.
These tactics extended to the media.
Formosa TV, a pro-independence news
channel, reported a series of cyberattacks.
Its websites and YouTube streams were
hacked to show pro-Beijing statements
including ‘China’s terrestrial sovereignty
cannot be interfered by outsiders’.
In response, the Taiwanese Ministry of
Defence proposed to revise a national
mobilisation act, saying there was a need
to manage false information in time of
emergency. According to the proposal,
once mobilisation was mandated, all media
would have to co-operate with government
orders and penalties for spreading
misinformation would be increased.
While pro-independence publications
such as
Liberty Times
supported the plans,
pro-unification media such as
United Daily
warned that the ruling party might abuse
the emergency regulations to suppress
press freedom in peacetime.
120
Opposition
parties blocked the proposals as a result.
Efforts at countering misinformation are
not limited to the government though.
The Taiwan Fact Checking Center, led by
journalists, publishes dozens of fact-checks
a week on issues ranging from consumer
scares to geopolitical propaganda. Other
agencies are stepping up efforts to increase
media literacy and have invited citizens to
take part. Watchout, an independent media
organisation, produces handbooks on how
to spot disinformation in a crisis. In October
2022, the founder of Taiwan’s second-
largest chipmaker, Robert Tsao, pledged
US$20m to provide training to citizens in
open-source intelligence and cybersecurity.
The public broadcaster, Taiwan
Broadcasting System (TBS), whose Public
Television Service (PTS) news brand
is among the country’s most trusted,
has put itself on high alert to prevent
being hacked and to strengthen its
operational resilience. It is also expanding
and improving its output, including its
subscription video-on-demand service
PTS+, hoping to make it the most popular
local platform for artistic and cultural
performances. It has also launched
the country’s first English-language
TV channel, TaiwanPlus, a venture
supported by the Ministry of Culture as
part of its mission is to share the country’s
perspective internationally. The hope is
that the new channel, which TBS hopes to
make available in the United States, might
help to counter the impact of Beijing’s
English-language China Global Television
Network (CGTN).
In a crowded market – there are already
19 24-hour news channels in Taiwan,
mostly privately owned – only the Chinese
Television System is public. It has made a
lot of effort to improve its quality in order
to obtain one of the prime positions on
cable TV’s electronic programme guides.
Commercial operators have suffered
from a continuing loss of income, even
though Taiwan’s economic growth is
strong and digital advertising revenue
rose by nearly 10% in 2021. Newspaper
advertising income fell by more than 30%,
which has worried many about the ability
of Taiwanese media to resist Chinese
influences. A report by Freedom House
said some Taiwanese publications were
publishing content arranged, sponsored,
or paid for by Chinese authorities.
121
Facing declining income, Taiwan’s
publishers have got together to lobby the
government to help them in negotiations
with Meta, Google, and others, arguing that
platform operators receive around 80% of
the digital advertising revenues in Taiwan
without appropriately compensating those
that produce the content. The platforms say
they gain few profits from news but already
make contributions to local journalism.
In March 2023, Google launched a US$10m
three-year programme to help news
providers with digital transformation.
Lihyun Lin
National Taiwan University
119
120
121
https://www.reuters.com/technology/website-taiwans-presidential-office-receives-overseas-cyber-attack-source-2022-08-02/
Liberty Times,
10 Mar. 2023. ‘Editorial: Strengthening National Defense’. https://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1571167.
United Daily,
26 Feb. 2023. ‘Editorial, National Mobilization
Act: Military Rule’. https://udn.com/news/story/6656/6996779
A. Datt, J-N Huang. 2022.
Beijing’s Global Media Influence Report, Taiwan.
https://freedomhouse.org/country/taiwan/beijings-global-media-influence/2022
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
TVBS News
Eastern Broadcasting News
Sanlih E-Television News
Formosa TV News
China TV News (CTV)
Liberty Times
Taiwan Television News
United Daily News
Chinese Television System (CTS) News
ERA News
Unique Satellite TV News
Public Television Service News
Next TV
China Times
Business Weekly
CommonWealth Magazine
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
22
22
20
17
16
14
14
13
13
12
10
9
23
32
28
39
Digital News Report 2023 | Taiwan
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Yahoo! News
ETtoday online
TVBS News online
EBS News online
22
20
20
19
16
16
12
12
11
11
10
10
10
29
36
34
145
Sanlih E-Television News online
Liberty Times online
United Daily News online
Storm Media
ChungTien News online
China TV News online
China Times online
Business Weekly online
cnYes.com
CommonWealth Magazine online
Taiwan Television News online
Public Television Service News online
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2017–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Traditional media sources such as television and print
have become less important over time while digital
news consolidates its position. More and more
Taiwanese use YouTube for news – from 38% in 2021
to 44% in 2023 – with most news channel operators
now uploading videos there.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
88%
77%
57%
50%
78%
56%
52%
41%
17%
13%
TRUST
pay for
ONLINE NEWS
0%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Business Weekly
China TV (CTV) News
CommonWealth Magazine
Trust Neither Don’t Trust
55%
45%
54%
46%
51%
46%
38%
38%
55%
35%
34%
45%
51%
45%
36%
39%
41%
37%
40%
40%
39%
35%
36%
35%
35%
42%
41%
37%
41%
10%
16%
17%
9%
14%
9%
14%
27%
26%
11%
30%
23%
14%
12%
14%
Due to the intense competition in the media market and the interventions of owners,
trust in news (28%) remains among the lowest in our survey. In the polarised media
landscape, many brands with political colours are less trusted, whereas business
publications tend to have higher levels of trust. PTS (55%) remains one of the most
trusted brands this year, after internal improvements.
Chinese Television System (CTS) News 42%
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2017–23
100%
EBC News
Economic Daily
Ettoday.net
Formosa TV News
Liberty Times
Public Television Service (PTS)
Sanli News
Storm Media
TTV News
TVBS News
United Daily
50%
31%
0%
28%
2017
2023
28%
35
/ 180
=41/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
75.54
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
31%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Line
2
YouTube
3
Facebook
4
Instagram
5
PTT (bulletin board)
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
47% (-2)
44% (+4)
41% (-4)
71%
71%
63%
10% (+1)
7%
(-)
(-)
31%
15%
27%
6
Facebook Messenger 6%
 KUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 93: Rapport fra Reuters Institute: Digital News Report 2023
2841850_0146.png
146
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
70m
88%
THAILAND
General elections in May 2023 were seen as a potential turning point
for Thailand and for media freedom after decades of authoritarian rule.
The poll was the first since youth-led protests in 2020 shook Thailand’s
establishment by calling for the powers of the monarchy to be curbed,
and for the military-backed constitution to be rewritten.
Thailand’s reformist opposition won
the most seats and the largest share of
the popular vote in May’s elections with
young voters in particular sending a
clear message for change – along with a
rejection of military-backed parties that
have ruled Thailand for nearly a decade.
But it remains unclear whether opposition
parties will be allowed to carry out their
radical programme, given the hold that
conservative voices still hold in the wider
political system and through the media.
The shock success of the reformist Move
Forward party, which secured the largest
number of seats, was largely due to an
imaginative social media-based campaign
that appealed to younger voters in particular
and offered a different kind of political
leadership. The election period also saw
intense coverage of dysfunction in public
services as well as executive corruption.
Outside election periods the mainstream
media tend to be constrained in terms
of critical reporting – with major outlets
often reporting the government line.
Newer outlets like Voice TV have tried
to provide more alternative views,
which in turn has led to harassment by
the authorities over the last few years.
According to Reporters Without Borders
(RSF), defamation and cybercrime laws
are systematically used in Thailand to
harass journalists, and the government
also has the power to suspend the
licences of media outlets that threaten
‘public decency’.
122
Smaller and online
media outlets tend to be given more
leeway and many former journalists now
create and distribute news content via
platforms like YouTube, building personal
brands for themselves in the process.
During the COVID-19 pandemic reliable
news was often to be found on Facebook
pages reflecting what was happening
in local communities, but these have
expanded into a range of genres in widely
read forums such as Saved Sai Mai
Page (social welfare), Watch Dog Page
(corruption), and Drama Addict Page
(social dramas).
The Thai public has a voracious appetite
for sensationalist news stories including
true crime and supernatural beliefs, with
‘concerned citizens’ often carrying out their
own investigations online using techniques
once only available to journalists. These
social media investigators, dubbed
‘Naksueb Social’, have broken a number
of stories which are often followed up by
the mainstream media – though the most
reputable news outlets, we find, tend to
conduct additional investigations and
interviews of their own.
Self-censorship about the Thai monarchy
is heavily practised, not least because
journalists face the threat of up to 15
years in prison if they breach the penal
code. For this reason, a serious scare
around the health of the King’s daughter
was largely ignored by most news
organisations, beyond the bland official
statements from the palace. By contrast
the rumours about her possible death
were widely shared and discussed in
every social media platform. The royal
succession remains a matter of intense
interest and has the potential to derail
the nation’s stability.
News reporting and soap operas are
the Thais’ top favourite programmes, as
evidenced by increased advertising airtime
on OTT TV and streaming services. Short-
form videos on Facebook, YouTube, and
TikTok are also gaining more attention and
importance, and most news organisations
– if not all – with online access have
presences on all three networks.
TikTok usage has grown again this year
with half of our sample (51%) using the
short-form video network for any purpose
and 30% for news consumption – up 8
percentage points on last year. Younger
Thais have embraced the platform while
other news consumers consume longer
video formats via YouTube. Our survey
this year confirms that Thais prefer to
watch the news online rather than read
it or listen to it – one of the few countries
to show that trend. This is making it
even harder for newspapers with a print
background to engage audiences via their
websites and apps.
Advertising remains the main business
model for news publishers, with a heavy
payload of advertisements on websites,
and product placement is widely practised
on TV news programmes. Print advertising
is in decline along with circulation. Paying
for online news through subscriptions is
extremely rare in Thailand.
The merger of telecom giants True
and DTAC in 2023 may have significant
implications for the media sector and
access to popular news services. Until
now healthy competition has led to cheap
and unlimited data packages, which in
turn have driven the popularity of OTT
platforms – including news streaming
services. It remains to be seen if that will
change as a result of the merger.
Professor Jantima Kheokao
Asian Network for Public Opinion Research
(ANPOR)
Dhanaraj Kheokao
Potsdam University, Germany
122
Reporters Without Borders, Thailand page. https://rsf.org/en/country/thailand
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Channel 3 HD
Thai Rath TV 32
Amarin TV HD 34
Channel 7 HD
Thai Rath Daily (newspaper)
Workpoint TV23
Channel One 31
PPTV 36
Thai PBS (public broadcaster)
Khaosod (newspaper)
Channel 8 News
Daily News (newspaper)
Nation TV 22
True4U News
12
12
12
10
9
9
16
26
24
23
21
21
20
31
31
28
Digital News Report 2023 | Thailand
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Thai Rath online
ThaiPBS News online
Workpoint Today
Khaosod online
PPTV online
MCOT News Network online
Yahoo! News
Voice
BBC News online
Matichon online
The Reporter Thailand
Nation online
Manager online
Bangkok Post online
Siam Sport
The Standard Thailand
16
16
16
15
14
14
13
12
11
9
9
25
24
23
20
43
147
MCOT News Network (incl. Thai News Agency)
Matichon (newspaper)
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
CHANGING MEDIA
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2021–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
Although television remains an important source of
news for older Thais, others rely heavily on online and
social media sources for news. The most important
social media platforms for news include Facebook,
YouTube, Line, and TikTok.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
91%
78%
88%
75%
50%
51%
50%
15%
0%
2021
2022
2023
12%
TRUST
Trust in the news remains stable and relatively high compared with other countries
(9th/46) – as do the trust scores for individual news brands. TV channels such as
Channel 7 HD News and the PSB Thai TBS tend to have higher levels of trust when
compared with newspapers.
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Amarin
Bangkok Post
Channel 7 HD
Daily News
Trust Neither Don’t Trust
69%
65%
71%
64%
65%
65%
60%
66%
68%
59%
68%
60%
70%
69%
71%
23%
28%
23%
28%
26%
27%
31%
25%
25%
26%
26%
31%
22%
24%
23%
8%
7%
6%
8%
9%
7%
9%
9%
6%
15%
6%
8%
7%
8%
7%
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2021–23
100%
Khaosod
Krobkruakao 3
Manager
Matichon
MCOT News Network
Nation
PPTV
Regional or local newspaper
Thai PBS (public broadcaster)
Thai Rath
Workpoint TV
50%
50%
51%
51%
106
For News
0%
2021
2023
9/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
55.24
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
43%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
Line
4
TikTok
5
Twitter
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
65% (-1)
54% (-1)
48% (-3)
80%
80%
75%
30% (+8)
22% (+1)
51%
34%
46%
6
Facebook Messenger 21% (-2)
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SECTION 3
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149
SECTION 3
Analysis by Country and Market
Africa
AFRICA
3.44 Kenya
3.45 Nigeria
3.46 South Africa
150
152
154
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
Population
Internet penetration
56m
85%
KENYA
Kenyan media are considered to be independent by regional
standards, but press freedom remains fragile. Last year’s presidential
elections also highlighted the challenge from widespread political
misinformation and disinformation through multiple social networks
and messaging apps, despite laws designed to limit its spread.
The country’s fragile and polarised
political environment and the tensions
that follow presidential elections often
determine the perceived credibility and
reliability of the media. Yet, trust in the
news grew by 6 percentage points this year,
perhaps because it acts as an important
counter to a rising tide of misinformation
and disinformation. The growing
appropriation of WhatsApp and Facebook
as information-sharing platforms has
raised serious concerns about the quality
of information during a year dominated by
elections and the subsequent challenge of
the presidential outcome. Increased efforts
by fact-checkers such as AfricaCheck,
Fumbua Trust, PesaCheck, and others to
spotlight the misinformation on WhatsApp
and Facebook may also help explain why
their use as a source of news declined.
The election period coincided with rapid
growth in the use of TikTok for news, up
14pp in the last year, according our survey.
The platform – usually known for sharing
dancing and make-up videos – became the
network of choice for political mercenaries
during the elections according to a report
by the non-profit Mozilla foundation.
123
Fake polls and videos were widely shared
and the platform was widely criticised
for lack of effective content moderation,
allowing millions of people to engage with
content that was intentionally misleading
or even incited violence.
Although guaranteed by the constitution,
respect for press freedom and free
expression in Kenya are constrained by
political and economic realities. The
current political administration that
came to power after the 2022 elections
regularly claims that the media are
biased against them. Physical attacks
on journalists and the increase in online
threats, harassment, and intimidation
have had a chilling effect. Media houses
are also under pressure, with the
Communications Authority of Kenya,
which is in charge of licensing and
regulating broadcast media, threatening
to revoke the licences of media outlets
that report on anti-government protests
organised by the opposition. These
threats alongside non-payment of money
(an estimated US$17m are owed for
advertising services already rendered)
have often led to the once robust media
kowtowing to government and political-
elite pressure.
For most Kenyans, free-to-air digital
terrestrial TV remains the most popular
medium – with radio also reaching a
significant proportion of the population
via more than 100 licensed stations in
multiple languages. Media ownership is
concentrated among the political elite,
reinforcing the perception that the media
are ‘captured’ by political and corporate
interests to the detriment of their public
interest role. A small number of large
groups including the Nation Media Group,
The Standard Group, Radio Africa Group
(Star+), and the Royal Media Services Group
(Citizen TV, Citizen Radio, etc.), dominate
the landscape. In the online space, the
digital native Tuko’s mix of celebrity,
entertainment, and political news with a
light touch has proved successful.
But there are deepening concerns for
the sustainability of the sector as media
organisations contend with a poor
economic environment and the aftermath
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Layoffs
continue and the welfare of the journalists
remaining in the newsroom has worsened
as the working conditions deteriorate and
salaries are delayed. A number of news
organisations have shuttered loss-making
products. For example, the Radio Africa
Group closed its entertainment-only TV
station Kiss TV.
Some media houses’ attempts to develop
alternative revenue streams have run
into trouble. The Nation Media Group
dismantled its paywall when it had an
estimated 70,000 subscribers which
had earned the company more than
US$ 470,000. The subscription numbers
for
The Standard
and
The Star,
which still
have their paywalls, are way below those
of the NMG. Media organisations seem
to be in paralysis – afraid to suspend
paywalls which are not gaining traction
or afraid to reintroduce them without
making the significant investment needed
to produce distinct and valuable content
that would justify charging for content.
The declining financial health of many
media houses has prompted discussions
about establishing a Media Fund to assist
news organisations to stay afloat. But
the prospect of using public money to
support commercial, ‘independent’, yet
recalcitrant media at a time of economic
hardship for ordinary people would be
extremely hard to deliver politically.
All the big Kenyan media groups have been
investing in the production of original
podcasts. Although they are often cheap
to produce, there are few indications that
they are attracting significant audiences.
Furthermore, many podcasts are of a
similar genre (lifestyle, entertainment,
or sports) and most do not contain news
or analysis and may not have contributed
to improving the quality or diversity of
political discourse.
Catherine Gicheru
ICFJ Fellow
and
Director, Africa Women
Journalism Project
George Nyabuga
Associate Professor of Media and Journalism,
Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of
Media and Communications
123
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Citizen TV
Daily Nation
KTN News (incl. KTN Home)
The Standard
NTV
Citizen Radio
Opera News
KBC
The Star
K-24
Radio Maisha
Al-Jazeera
BBC News
The Nairobian
Classic FM
CNN
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
13
29
11
25
13
25
13
21
11
20
9
19
8
17
8
17
11
17
8
17
7
16
21
38
15
38
26
51
17
49
Digital News Report 2023 | Kenya
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Tuko.co.ke
Citizen TV
Daily Nation
Opera News
Kenyans.co.ke
KTN News (incl. KTN Home)
The Standard
NTV online
The Star
Citizen Radio
Nairobian
Nairobi News
BBC News online
Business Daily
Citizen Weekly
Yahoo! News
22
20
18
17
17
16
15
15
14
36
36
34
46
44
62
58
151
67
11
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2020–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
These data are based on an online survey of mainly
English-speaking, online news users in Kenya – a subset
of a larger, more diverse, media market. Respondents
were generally more affluent, younger (18–50 only),
have higher levels of formal education, and are more
likely to live in cities than the overall Kenyan
population. Findings should not be taken to be
nationally representative.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
90%
77%
74%
88%
72%
67%
50%
47%
31%
0%
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST
Trust in news overall (63%) remains high compared with other countries in our
survey. Commercial TV outlets, such as from the biggest media companies, tend
to be the most trusted news sources alongside the
Daily Nation
newspaper and its
associated website. The BBC also has a strong presence in the Kenyan market with
high trust scores. Popular papers such as
The Star
and
The People Daily
have slightly
lower trust.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2020–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
BBC News
Citizen Radio
Citizen TV
Daily Nation
K-24 TV
KBC News (public broadcaster)
KTN News
NTV
Radio Jambo
Radio Maisha
Taifa Leo
The Business Daily
The People Daily
The Standard
The Star
Trust
87%
86%
89%
89%
83%
84%
89%
88%
79%
81%
79%
83%
77%
87%
74%
Neither Don’t Trust
6%
6%
5%
5%
9%
7%
5%
5%
11%
9%
10%
9%
11%
6%
11%
8%
8%
6%
6%
8%
9%
6%
6%
10%
10%
11%
8%
13%
7%
15%
50%
50%
63%
63%
116
For News
0%
2020
2023
2/46 markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
51.15
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
57%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
YouTube
4
Twitter
5
Instagram
6
TikTok
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
61% (-3)
60% (-1)
51% (-1)
73%
83%
76%
40% (+4)
29%
(-)
29% (+14)
52%
52%
54%
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Population
Internet penetration
211m
73%
NIGERIA
Nigeria’s media landscape remains a dynamic and constantly evolving
space with state and private broadcasters, popular international
brands like the BBC and CNN, and numerous print titles. Traditional
media outlets in the country are embracing new digital formats and
channels, as they transform their legacy businesses.
As fewer people turn to traditional news
sources such as television and print
media for information, their business
models have come under pressure. Print,
in particular, has been in sharp decline in
recent years with a further 5 percentage
point drop in weekly reach in our data.
Despite these problems, there are still
around 100 national and local print titles,
of which the best known include
The Punch,
The Nation, Vanguard, The Guardian
and
The Premium Times.
Television and radio remain critical sources
of information, especially for those that are
not online, but internet access is growing
fast. Nigeria hit 122.5 million internet
users as of January 2023, according to
DataReportal, and Nigerians have been
quick to adopt a wide range of social media
platforms. Meta-owned products such
as Facebook and WhatsApp remain most
widely used for news, followed by Twitter
and YouTube. The messaging service
Telegram has grown rapidly in recent years
and Nigeria’s youthful population is now
vigorously embracing short-form video
via TikTok – accessed by 56% of 18–24s,
according to our Digital News Report
survey, with around half of these now
accessing news on the platform.
Some Nigerian media organisations such
as
Business Day, Daily Post,
HumAngle,
The Guardian, The Punch,
and
ThisDay
have
been innovating their product offerings
including the introduction or extension of
premium subscription services. As well as
full access to digital content these often
include exclusive newsletters and other
subscriber-only content. It is not clear how
many people have taken up these paid
services with so much free news available.
Meanwhile, the size of the Nigerian
market has been attracting interest from
international venture capital with Stears
Business raising $3.3 million for a data
start-up and Big Cabal Media raising $2.3m
to build and extend new content verticals.
This demonstrates potential new avenues
for media funding in Nigeria.
The rise of digital journalism continues
apace, with podcasts becoming increasingly
popular across a number of genres. Email
newsletters are being widely deployed to
increase engagement with websites, and
platforms such as Substack have also made
it easier for individual journalists to launch
stand-alone newsletters.
Hotly contested presidential elections in
Nigeria in February 2023 passed off largely
peacefully but turnout was affected by fuel
shortages, insecurity, and evidence of voter
suppression in some parts of the country.
Election rallies and political speeches were
widely covered by the media but questions
linger regarding the objectivity of some
news coverage, considering that traditional
media outlets are heavily dependent on
political (and government) advertising.
Despite the evolution of the media sector,
the pursuit of press freedom, as enshrined
in the constitution, remains elusive. The
government arrested and detained several
journalists and publishers in the run-up to
the election for publishing reports deemed
offensive. Those affected include Haruna
Mohammed, publisher of WikkiTimes,
Ayodele Samuel, the publisher of Taraba
Truth and Facts, and Agba Jalingo,
publisher of Cross River Watch, while
others were physically assaulted.
Misinformation was rampant on social
media before, during, and after the
election according to experts monitoring
the campaign. In an effort to combat
the problem, a new initiative was set
up by major news platforms and civil
society organisations working together
under the umbrella of the Nigeria Fact-
checking Coalition (NFC). Participants
included the International Centre for
Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Dubawa,
Africa Check, FactMattersNG, the Insight,
FactCheckHub, TheCable, and
Daily Trust
and the group was active in fact-checking
live presidential debates and set up an
Election Observatory Room to monitor
misinformation and disinformation in the
months leading up to the election.
In recent years, several laws regulating
social and other digital media have been
proposed by the government, in the face
of international and local criticism about
the wider potential impact on freedom
of speech and on journalists’ ability to
operate. Partly as a result, a number of
stakeholders have been exploring new
ideas for how to govern information on
digital platforms. The Federal Government
of Nigeria has established a new Code of
Practice through the National Information
Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
while news organisations, civil society, and
non-media groups have been discussing
various proposals for self-regulation.
Tolulope Adeyemo
Code for Africa
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WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
Channels TV (24-hour news)
The Punch
BBC News (TV and radio)
The Vanguard
TVC News (24-hour news)
CNN
The Guardian
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
Al-Jazeera
Daily Trust
Arise TV News
Wazobia FM
The Sun
Africa Independent Television
Cool FM
ThisDay
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
19
18
17
38
37
37
34
32
30
30
26
26
25
42
48
47
Digital News Report 2023 | Nigeria
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
Legit.ng
Punch online
Pulse.ng
BBC News online
Vanguard online
Channels Television online
Sahara Reporters
CNN.com
News 24
Daily Trust online
TVC News online
The Daily Post
Arise TV online
Wazobia FM online
30
30
29
26
25
25
21
21
17
16
14
46
44
41
40
39
153
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) online
Premium Times online
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2021–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
These data are based on a survey of English-speaking,
online news users in Nigeria – a subset of a larger, more
diverse, media market. Respondents are generally more
affluent, younger (18–50 only), have higher levels of
formal education, and are more likely to live in cities
than the wider Nigerian population. Findings should
not be taken to be nationally representative.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
94%
78%
66%
93%
78%
58%
50%
28%
28%
0%
2021
2022
2023
TRUST
Nigeria’s overall trust in news (57%) score has remained relatively stable over recent
years and ranks fourth (4th/46) in our survey. International broadcasters such as BBC
News and other local traditional media outlets such as Channels TV,
The Punch,
Arise
TV News, and
The Vanguard,
among others, maintain high levels of public trust.
But the level of government interference in the news media remains significant,
according to RSF. It can involve pressure, harassment of journalists, and censorship.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2021–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
Africa Independent Television
Arise TV News
BBC News
Channels TV
News Agency of Nigeria
Premium Times
Trust
78%
82%
90%
88%
72%
77%
77%
83%
77%
84%
78%
83%
76%
79%
Neither Don’t Trust
12%
10%
6%
6%
15%
13%
13%
14%
10%
14%
9%
13%
10%
14%
11%
10%
9%
4%
6%
13%
18%
10%
9%
7%
10%
6%
9%
8%
10%
10%
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) 69%
Pulse.ng
The Guardian
The Nation
The Punch
The Sun
The Vanguard
ThisDay
TVC News
50%
54%
57%
57%
123
For News
0%
2021
2023
=4/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
49.56
/ 180
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
59%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
WhatsApp
3
Twitter
4
YouTube
5
Instagram
6
Telegram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
64% (+2)
63% (+3)
44% (+6)
79%
87%
58%
40% (-1)
36% (-4)
26%
(-)
71%
60%
55%
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Population
Internet penetration
60m
58%
SOUTH AFRICA
The last year has been a challenging one for South African media,
including the closing of two news sites, staff of a prominent media
company not having their salaries paid in full, and high-profile legal
challenges involving journalism that reflect fault lines in media
freedom. Perhaps related to this is that, after four years of growth,
trust in news in South Africa is declining.
Due to the termination of its licensing
agreement, finance news site Business
Insider South Africa closed after five
years of operating, although its staff were
reallocated into its parent organisation,
Media24. More troublingly, left-leaning
news outlet New Frame, which provided
a much-needed voice on social justice
and labour issues, also closed down amid
recriminations and accusations of political
interference and mismanagement,
leaving some 25 staff out of work and a
significant hole in the diversity of the
news landscape.
124
In March 2023 Independent Media,
owners of a number of leading national
newspapers and the popular IOL website,
told staff that they would only receive
75% of their salaries, which the company
attributed to ‘declining revenues and rising
cost structures’. Commentators suggested
this was more likely caused by the parent
company taking a financial hit when they
lost a court case with the state asset
manager. Salaries were eventually paid in
full, with shareholders agreeing to provide
a capital injection, but this is an ominous
harbinger of potential cuts to come.
In February 2023 the president of South
Africa was taken to court over his failure to
appoint a new board for the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). NGO
Media Monitoring Africa and others argued
that the absence of effective oversight
jeopardises the SABC’s stability and has
left millions of people under threat of
having their ‘fundamental right to access
to information’ denied. The president
eventually appointed a board in mid-April.
The results of the 2023 Digital News
Report survey highlight the scale of this
threat, with the SABC as the top news
source for TV and radio news (52%), and
second highest on the online list (50%).
In a case that the Committee to Protect
Journalists says could have ‘serious
repercussions for freedom of the press
in South Africa’, ex-President Jacob Zuma
sued an investigative journalist from
News 24 and an advocate who Zuma
claimed leaked confidential medical
records. The private prosecution was
widely seen as an attempt by Zuma to
stop the journalist, Karyn Maughan,
from reporting on his ongoing trial about
corruption related to a multi-billion-dollar
arms deal, with possible ramifications
mooted that included damage to South
Africa’s open justice system and the role
reporters can play in defending it. In a
victory for media freedom, the court ruled
in Maughan’s favour, saying that Zuma’s
prosecution ‘had the hallmarks of a SLAPP
suit, designed to harass and intimidate.’
Harassment of journalists has become
increasingly physical, with SANEF
expressing concern at ‘increasing
incidents of violence against journalists
around the country’.
125
In February,
supporters of a political party and
municipal police assaulted a reporter
from the private broadcaster eNCA and,
in a separate incident, a former mayor
and his bodyguards attacked a reporter
with the privately owned newspaper
Zululand Observer.
Harassment of the media, both online and
physically, is disproportionately directed
at women journalists. This bias is reflected
in the decreasing number of women
editors in South Africa, which has dropped
precipitously from a global high of 60% in
2021 to a paltry 20% in 2023.
126
Print continues to decline as a source
of news and TV news is also down after
COVID-19 highs. Conversely, the number
of people using social media for news has
grown across all platforms except for
Twitter, with news use via TikTok
and YouTube both increasing by 7pp.
There are positive indicators, though.
News sites are increasingly embracing the
opportunities that platforms bring to reach
new audiences. Subscriber numbers to
paywalled and membership-based news
sites appear to be growing, although it is
difficult to find reported figures for many
of them. Of those that have declared
their figures, News24 is at around 75,000
subscribers, a growth of 53% year-on-year,
another Media24 site, the niche Afrikaans-
language Netwerk24, had over 95,500
subscribers as of September 2022, and
independent news site Daily Maverick’s
membership scheme has 22,500 active
members. Although trust in news has
dipped in general, there is still a robust,
trusted relationship between reputable
news sites and their audiences.
Chris Roper
Deputy CEO, Code for Africa
124
125
126
Daily Maverick, 15 July 2022. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-07-15-inside-the-messy-demise-of-new-frame/
SANEF, 22 Mar. 2023. https://sanef.org.za/sanef-condemns-attack-on-sabc-journalists/
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/women-and-leadership-news-media-2023-evidence-12-markets
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2841850_0155.png
WEEKLY REACH OFFLINE
AND ONLINE
TOP BRANDS
% Weekly usage
Weekly use
TV, radio & print
More than 3 days per week
TV, radio & print
Weekly use
online brands
More than 3 days per week
online brands
Axis Line on both layers:
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
90% CMYK Black
SABC News (incl SABC 1,2,3)
eNCA
Daily Sun
MetroFM
BBC News
CNN
Local radio news
The Sunday Times
Newzroom Afrika
Regional or local newspaper
The Citizen
Sowetan
Community newspaper
City Press
UkhoziFM
SAFM
Text:
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
90% CMYK Black
15
15
15
14
13
13
13
12
30
26
25
24
24
23
52
48
Digital
on both layers:
Axis Line
News Report 2023 | South Africa
0.5pt stroke weight
Rounded ends
ONLINE
90% CMYK Black
News24
SABC News online
eNCA online
Daily Sun online
BBC News online
CNN.com
TimesLive
IOL
The Citizen online
Netwerk24 online
Daily Maverick
City Press online
Mail & Guardian online
SowetanLive
Eyewitness News (EWN)
Yahoo! News
16
15
15
14
14
13
13
13
12
11
22
29
25
40
50
70
155
METHODOLOGY NOTE
Text:
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
Tisa Sans Pro Light
6pt w/ -20 tracking
6pt w/ -20 tracking
SOURCES OF NEWS 2019–23
CMYK Black
90%
White
These data are based on a survey of English-speaking,
online news users in South Africa – an important part
of a larger, more diverse, media market. Respondents
are generally more affluent, younger, have higher levels
of formal education, and are more likely to live in cities
than the wider South African population. Findings
should not be taken to be nationally representative.
Numbers:
Tisa Sans Pro Medium
6pt w/ -20 tracking
Online (incl. social media)
White
TV
Social media
Print
100%
90%
72%
68%
90%
73%
65%
50%
40%
30%
0%
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
TRUST
Trust in news (57%) remains high by international standards despite a 4pp decline
in the last year. Brand trust scores have also edged slightly lower with News24 and
BBC News remaining among the most trusted news organisations. South Africa
has a well-established culture of fearless journalism but some elements have been
compromised in recent years by a chase for ratings and, in some cases, perceptions
of undue influence by powerful owners.
OVERALL TRUST SCORE 2019–23
100%
BRAND TRUST SCORES
Only the below brands were included in the survey.
It should not be treated as a list of the most or least
trusted brands as it is not exhaustive.
Brand
BBC News
City Press
Daily Maverick
Daily Sun
eNCA
EWN (Eyewitness News)
IOL
Mail & Guardian
News24
Regional or local newspaper
SABC News
Sowetan
Sunday Times
The Citizen
TimesLive
Trust
81%
67%
63%
53%
80%
68%
60%
70%
83%
70%
79%
62%
73%
68%
69%
Neither Don’t Trust
11%
20%
23%
22%
10%
20%
24%
19%
10%
18%
10%
20%
15%
19%
19%
8%
13%
15%
25%
9%
12%
17%
12%
7%
12%
11%
18%
11%
13%
12%
50%
49%
57%
57%
25
/ 180
0%
2019
2023
=4/46
markets
OVERALL TRUST
Proportion that trusts ‘most news most of the time’
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM
INDEX SCORE 2023
Score:
78.6
Measure of press freedom from NGO Reporters Without Borders based on expert assessment. More at rsf.org
Q6_brand trust.
How trustworthy would you say news from the following
brands is? Please use the scale below, where 0 is ‘not at all trustworthy’ and
10 is ‘completely trustworthy’. Details: 6–10 coded as ‘Trust’, 5 coded as
‘Neither’, 0–4 coded as ‘Don’t trust’. Those that haven’t heard of each brand
were excluded. Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their
subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not
an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness.
57%
TOP SOCIAL MEDIA AND MESSAGING
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
Rank
Brand
For News
For All
1
Facebook
2
YouTube
3
WhatsApp
4
Twitter
5
TikTok
6
Instagram
SHARE NEWS
via social, messaging
or email
56% (+4)
46% (+7)
46% (+3)
76%
81%
83%
25% (-3)
22% (+7)
17% (+1)
38%
50%
45%
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156
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
SECTION 4
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157
SECTION 4
References
The authors welcome feedback on this report
and suggestions on how to improve our work
via [email protected] as well
as potential partnerships and support for our
ongoing work.
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158
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism | Digital News Report 2023
References
Eddy, K., Ross Arguedas, A., Mukherjee, M., Nielsen, R. K. 2023.
Women and Leadership in the News Media 2023: Evidence from 12
Markets.
Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Fawzi, N. 2019. ‘Untrustworthy News and the Media as “Enemy of
the People?” How a Populist Worldview Shapes Recipients’ Attitudes
toward the Media’, International
Journal of Press/Politics 24(2),
146–64.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161218811981
Fletcher, R., Nielsen, R. K. 2018. ‘Generalised Scepticism: How
People Navigate News on Social Media’,
Information, Communication
& Society 22(12),
1751–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/136911
8X.2018.1450887
Holt, K., Figenschou, T. U., Frischlich, L. 2019. ‘Key Dimensions of
Alternative News Media’,
Digital Journalism 7(7),
860–9.
Mathews, N., Bélair-Gagnon, V., Lewis, S. C. 2022. ‘News is “Toxic”:
Exploring the Non-Sharing of News Online’,
New Media & Society 0(0).
https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221127212
Newman, N. 2022.
How Publishers are Learning to Create and Distribute
News on TikTok.
Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Newman, N. 2023.
Journalism. Media, and Technology Trends and
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Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Newman, N., Gallo, N. 2019.
News Podcasts and the Opportunities for
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News Podcasts: Building New Habits in
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Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study
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Echo Chambers, Filter Bubbles, and Polarisation: A Literature Review.
Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and
The Royal Society.
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Evidence that Public Service Media Harm Markets? A Cross-National
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Editors, Algorithms, and I: Examining Audience Attitudes to News
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70811.2018.1493936
PHOTO CREDITS
p. 23: A woman reacts while speaking near a block of flats, which was destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port
city of Mariupol, Ukraine. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
p. 25: Journalists and activists call for justice and protection of media workers during an indignation rally following the killing of Filipino radio
journalist Percival Mabasa, in Quezon City, Philippines. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
p. 41: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
p. 41: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
p. 42: Hugh Grant speaks at a news conference organised by ‘Hacked Off’, which is calling for a full public inquiry into the phone hacking
scandal. REUTERS/Darren Staples
p. 42: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, leaves the High Court in London. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
All icons throughout by Eucalyp from Noun Project. https://thenounproject.com/eucalyp/
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is dedicated to exploring
the future of journalism worldwide through debate, engagement, and
research. It is part of the Department of Politics and International Relations
at the University of Oxford, and affiliated with Green Templeton College.
Core funding comes from the Thomson Reuters Foundation with additional
support from a wide range of other funders including academic funding
bodies, foundations, non-profits, and industry partners.
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Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
@risj_oxford
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[email protected]
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reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
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