Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026

The annual Reuters Institute Digital News Report report, which has international comparisons and short overviews of individual countries, identifies that "Social media and video networks are now the most widely used sources of news globally, ahead of both TV news" "Around a quarter (27%) of respondents globally get some news from news-focused individual creators or influencers, and almost half (46%) get some news from creators of any type." Online news video is the majority mode of consumption. 
Reuters notes a paradox, in that use of platforms and influencers is growing, but there is also distrust and awareness of the possibility of misinformation. "Trust in news has fallen in 29 of our 48 markets this year" - the lowest sinnce they started this publication. 
Use of AI has also grown "The use of AI chatbots for news is growing quickly but not as quickly as AI use for other purposes: 10% of people use AI chatbots for news, up from 7% last year. Usage is predominantly by those most interested in news and is more concentrated among younger audiences (16% of under-35s report using AI chatbots for news)." Interestingly, they identify that interest in "news" generally has fallen in many countries. 
There is lots of good detail in the report. The researchers adminstered surveys online internationally, and the methodology section lays out the limitations. 
Egan, J. et al. (2026). Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2026
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild urban poppies, June 2026