Pauline Breeuwsma’s Post

The Digital News Report 2024 (#DNR24) by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is out this week! Lots of great insights on the evolving digital news landscape, audience views on AI, the creator economy, trust, and more. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/g9dJG-QA Key highlights:   🌎 Digital news media face misinformation, low trust, political attacks, and uncertain business models, causing layoffs and closures. 📱 Social media and video platforms are deprioritizing news, focusing on creators and engaging content, impacting traditional news outlets. 📉 Facebook news consumption dropped 4%. Its parent company, Meta, is reducing the role of news on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, cutting industry support. 📈 The top social media platforms for news are YouTube (31%), WhatsApp (21%), and TikTok (13%), which has overtaken Twitter/X (10%). 🎥 Short news videos are popular (66% weekly usage), but monetization is tough, with most views on third-party platforms (72%) vs. publisher sites (22%). 🤳🏼 Influencers and young creators dominate news on YouTube and TikTok, while traditional brands still matter on Facebook and X/Twitter. 😊 Audiences want diverse perspectives and optimism in news. Many feel 'worn out' by constant updates, especially on wars and disasters. Local news, health, and education coverage often fall short. 🎧 News podcasts thrive with younger, educated audiences. 35% access podcasts monthly, 13% for news and current affairs. 🤖 AI is accepted for support tasks but raises trust issues when generating content without oversight. 🔎 AI-driven search results might further reduce referral traffic, affecting subscriptions. 🎤 Celebrities like Taylor Swift, the Kardashians and Lionel Messi are news sources for young Instagram users, indicating a broad view on what news is. 🇨🇦 In Canada, news consumption on YouTube and TikTok is up, but local outlets struggle post-Meta's news block. Trust in Canadian news has dropped nearly 20% since 2018, with some news outlets seeing slight trust gains this year. 🇦🇷 Interest in news has plummeted in some places, like in Argentina, from 77% in 2017 to 45% now. People feel 'overloaded' by news, a growing sentiment. 🇪🇸 In Spain, the media landscape is shaped by intense competition among major conglomerates, political and social polarization, low trust in media, declining political interest, and broadcast news still holding strong. 🇫🇮 Finland has the highest news trust (69%), global trust is stable at 40%. 🇳🇴 In Norway, 45% users consume videos via news websites, showing a strong brand presence and good user experience. 📰 To re-engage audiences, journalism must be more accessible, hopeful, and diverse, standing out amidst abundant content.

I got some time to read the 2024 Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, full of data about global news consumption and changes happening in our industry. The topics that resonated most with me revealed sentiments about trust, gaps in coverage and paying for news. 🤝 Trust: You can’t have a healthy democracy without trust in the media. While trust in news has remained stable at 40%, it’s still four points lower than during the height of the pandemic. We’re working every day at TAPinto to provide credible, accurate and objective daily local news for our communities. In many places, we’re the only source for local news. We have a unique responsibility to connect with readers in real life and tell their stories. We get feedback that lets me know we’re on a good path with building trust. One mayor in a town we serve said the work of TAPinto Scotch Plains/Fanwood “fosters a broader sense of community identity and connection, allowing us to understand the diverse perspectives within our own backyard." 👥 Audience: The report also reveals that many publishers may be focusing too much on updating people on top news stories, and not enough on providing different perspectives or reporting stories that offer optimism or solutions. TAPinto publishers understand that our readers want to be informed, but also need stories that reflect their community's successes, challenges and everyday life. That’s the heart of local news. Our teams are small but focus on local events, community achievements and providing a platform for diverse voices. 💰 Revenue: One of the most striking findings is that only 17% of respondents in richer countries paid for online news in the last year. TAPinto’s proven ad-supported model — which includes everything from sponsorships to display ads — ensures our sustainability while keeping our news free and accessible for everyone. The report offered a lot more to consider in the ever-adapting pursuit of local news publishing, including the rise of video influencers and AI. TAPinto and other local media have an important place in building a more trusted, inclusive and resilient local news ecosystem. If you’ve had a chance to read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the report! 🤔 https://lnkd.in/eTsmDWeA 

I'm curious: have you encountered fake news, and how has that affected your trust in where you get your news? 🤔 The latest report from the Reuters Institute reveals some big challenges for newsrooms worldwide. With over half of people in the US and UK feeling uneasy about AI-generated news, there's a clear concern about how technology influences our news consumption. At the same time, there's a growing interest in getting news from alternative sources and influencers, especially on platforms like TikTok. This shows that many people prefer news that feels more personal and different from what traditional media offers. In my opinion, maintaining strong ethical standards in journalism while embracing technology is crucial for ensuring trustworthy and reliable information❗ #Journalism #AIinMedia #AudienceTrust #InnovationInNews #FutureOfJournalism

➡️ Global audiences are expressing skepticism towards AI-powered newsrooms, according to a report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. 🤖 This poses fresh challenges for #newsmedia in their efforts to engage audiences and combat misinformation. 📣 The report, based on surveys of nearly 100,000 people across 47 countries, highlights concerns about the use of AI in news production, particularly for sensitive subjects like politics.  🌍📰 💡By understanding and adapting to evolving audience preferences, news organizations can navigate the challenges posed by AI and leverage influencers to connect with their target audience effectively. 🧲 #AIinNews #OmniMediaSolutionsGroup #MediaIndustry #AudienceEngagement #NewsTrends #ReutersReport 📰💼 Kate Cervoni John Larrabee Tom VanBenschoten Joe Lampert Michael Cohen

An important piece on how Gen Z's distrust of legacy media is changing news consumption habits, and forcing legacy media to look at influencer-driven news production. However, I think, there are some challenges to this way of thinking, that if not checked, could lead to more disinformation. Like, - Lack of journalistic training for news influencers - No editorial oversight with YouTube channels, so who's making those calls? - Reducing space for nuance; the algorithm favours short-form content! What we need is to find a middle ground. To make legacy media more accessible by tapping into the reach of social media platforms, and influencers. And to simultaneously, create a space for nuance on social media in a way that doesn't dilute the credibility of news. https://lnkd.in/dBy8BEzB  

Check out this very interesting interview with Matt Navarra on how social media has evolved over the last 3-5 years. Here are some key takeaways: 1. Social media has become less public and more private, with people seeking more meaningful interactions within groups, friends, and connections. 2. Creators and influencers have become more powerful, particularly with the rise of vertical video content. User-generated content is now king. 3. The need for organic content (and the budget to do so), is still there 4. Democratizing payment is the challenge to be resolved for live commerce to grow in the West while Metaverse remains a question mark. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/d3h-Mcn6 #socialmedia #digitalmarketing #trends

Social media and mobile devices have allowed journalists to revolutionize what audience engagement means. A journalist who successfully utilizes social media can show their audience the process of reporting, build trust and credibility and expand the life of a story by continuing the conversation online. However, journalists need to be aware of how our audiences can impact our priorities and how to maintain a healthy relationship with consumers. Let me know what you think are the pros and cons of audience engagement on social media. In what ways do you interact with journalists and their work on social media? #socialmedia #ICParkSM

🚩Why is there so much content about dating "red flags" but none when it comes to following influencers online? I wrote about my red flag/green flag system for how to quickly assess a news account's trustworthiness before following. Flag 1: Is the person associated with a major news outlet or do they have an easily verifiable history as a working journalist? Flag 2: Do their numbers make sense? Flag 3: What is their “scandal-o-meter”? I walk through how to identify the flags, with examples, in a post on my new media literacy Substack 👇

Where do people get their news? I have been digging a bit on the data about the news sources that people consume included in the Digital News Report 2024, recently published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. This is a unique dataset, as it includes more than 95,000 responses from 47 countries across the globe. As it is an online survey, it only refers to the population that uses Internet, which is nearly all the population in Western countries but significantly lower in other parts of the world. I have played a bit with the dataset, including data on radio that do not appear in the report but in the interactive charts. Below are a few take aways about news sources: - Online sources are already the main source of news across the globe, even for the age group 55+. - The only exception to the above is France, where people still use TV more than online sources but for such a narrow margin (63% vs. 62%) that it is not statistically significant. Other countries where TV is nearly as big as online include Italy, Romania, Portugal, Japan and Germany. - TV is bigger than social media (55% vs. 51%). This can be seen in the most developed countries, such as those in Europe (except for Greece and Hungary), US, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, which is, by far, the country less reliant on social media (23% of its online population). - Radio is bigger than social media only in Austria and Germany but a quarter or less than social in Bulgaria, Chile (25%), Argentina, Philippines (22%), Thailand (17%) and Indonesia (12%), which is also the country where radio gets the lowest percentage of usage as a source of news (7%). - Print is ahead of radio as a source of news in 14 countries. This is notably the case in Latin America and in Asia-Pacific, where it doubles radio as a source in India and Japan. But there are also countries in this region where radio is much bigger than print, such as Australia and Malaysia. - Radio triples print as a source of news in Kenya, Romania and Hungary, while it doubles print in Poland, Slovakia, Greece and Denmark. - Africans are news junkies, as they declare using all the sources analysed more than in any other continent (but this dataset only contains 4 African countries). - Beyond Africa, Europeans declare a much higher use of TV and radio while Latin America and Asia-Pacific are ahead in the use of social media. - Generational differences work as you would expect: the older the respondent, the more they use TV and radio for news and the less they use social media. In the case of print, all age groups under 55 are at the same level while the 55+ have nearly caught up the other age groups in online sources. - In terms of gender, print, radio and online skew male, while men and women are on pair in the use of TV and social media.   Do you want more? Go to https://lnkd.in/e4V7GiDn and explore this report, it’s worth your time.