With the rapid rise of “news influencers” and social media consumption, traditional news outlets (TV, print, websites) are losing ground to podcasters, YouTubers and TikTokers. A Reuters Institute study has revealed consumers are increasingly turning to social networking sites and video platforms as their main sources of news. 

The study, which surveyed almost 100,000 news consumers across 48 countries, also found that many are choosing to avoid the news altogether, with around 40% of people – up from 29% in 2017 – saying they do so at least sometimes. Young people are also increasingly using AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini as go-to news sources.

Researchers warn that this shift risks exposing audiences to less transparent, less accurate, and less trustworthy information.