How do people stay informed in the digital age, and whom do they trust? The Reuters Digital News Report 2026 provides answers. Presented at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn, the study reveals how news consumption is changing, particularly among younger audiences.
Jim Egan, the study’s lead author, described the data as “quite unsettling.” Egan heads the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, which conducts the world’s largest annual survey of news consumption.
Egan emphasized that the report aims to present facts rather than comfort, offering a reality check for an industry often driven by opinion rather than hard data.
Social media leads as a news source
The report’s most striking finding is that social‑media networks and video platforms now surpass television and news‑organization websites as the primary ways people access news.
“Social‑media consumption itself isn’t growing much,” Egan explained, “but we’re seeing a decline in other platforms, such as broadcast TV and direct visits to news sites.”
This shift is especially pronounced among younger audiences. In the United States, more than one‑third of respondents under 25 have never regularly watched TV newscasts or visited news websites. “They’re not only leaving,” Egan said, “they’re not even starting.”
At the same time, trust in news is lowest on the platforms where young people are most active. “There’s an irony here: people are moving to platforms they trust less,” he warned.
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Video formats gain prominence
Video is becoming a dominant news format. About 75 % of respondents watch news videos weekly, mainly on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Globally, 20 % cite TikTok and 34 % cite YouTube as news sources, with notable variations—for example, 66 % of Kenyan respondents rely on YouTube for news.
Publishers that produce their own video content struggle to monetize the surge, as audiences are less responsive to on‑site video.
Contrary to assumptions about short attention spans, long‑form videos are popular among young people. Roughly 20 % regularly watch videos longer than 20 minutes, and a similar share follows live news programs on YouTube. A quarter of global respondents now watch news videos on larger screens, such as televisions.
Artificial intelligence is emerging as a news source, with usage of AI chatbots rising from 7 % to 10 % worldwide last year. Trust in AI‑generated news remains low, but Egan expects that to change over time.
Other alternative paths, such as “news influencers,” account for only about 10 % of users’ news needs and are unlikely to replace traditional sources.
Trust in news continues to fall
Trust in news declined by at least three percentage points in 29 of the 48 countries surveyed. Only 37 % of global respondents say they mostly trust the news.
Despite these challenges, the report reaffirms journalism’s importance. “Journalism still matters—in many ways it matters more than ever,” Egan told the audience in Bonn, noting that people seek orientation amid growing uncertainty.
The 2026 edition interviewed roughly 100 000 people across 48 countries. The German segment was conducted by the Leibniz Institute for Media Research in Hamburg.
The Reuters Institute, based at the University of Oxford, receives funding from various sources, including the tech company Google.
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This article was originally written in German.
