Reuters Digital News Report 2024: Insights into Ireland’s Media Landscape.
Today marked the release of the highly anticipated Reuters Digital News Report 2024, launched by Coimisiún na Meán. This comprehensive study, conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, is the largest ongoing comparative study of news consumption worldwide. As it enters its 10th year, the report provides invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of digital news in Ireland. The launch event featured a presentation by Dr. Claire English from DCU Fujo, who delved into the report's key findings.
Key Findings from the 2024 Report
Interest in News and Politics
This year, 53% of Irish respondents reported being extremely or very interested in news, a slight increase from last year but a significant drop from the 70% recorded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Interest in politics stands at 32%, down 6% from the last general election year in 2020. The report highlights notable differences in interest levels across gender and age, with men and older individuals showing higher interest in both news and politics.
News Consumption Patterns
A striking 81% of Irish adults access news at least once a day, with 59% doing so several times daily. However, there's a growing trend of news fatigue, with 40% of respondents feeling overwhelmed by the volume of news, and 44% actively avoiding news at times. The gender split reveals that women report higher levels of news fatigue compared to men.
Trust in News
Trust in news remains a crucial concern, with 46% of Irish people agreeing that they can trust most news most of the time. This figure, while slightly lower than last year, aligns closely with 2017 levels and remains high by international standards. Factors influencing trust include high journalistic standards, transparency, and unbiased representation.
Social Media and News
The report uncovers shifting trends in how Irish people consume news via social media. Use of Facebook for news continues to decline, now at 29%, while WhatsApp and YouTube have seen increases in usage for news purposes. Younger audiences prefer platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for their news consumption, whereas older groups lean towards Facebook.
Artificial Intelligence in News Production
Awareness of AI in news production is growing, with 44% of respondents claiming moderate to high knowledge about AI. However, there's significant discomfort with the idea of news being produced mostly by AI, with 56% expressing unease. This discomfort varies by age and the seriousness of the news topic.
Video News Consumption
Video remains a popular format for news, with 61% of Irish people viewing short-form news videos weekly. Younger men are the most avid consumers of all video formats, and platforms like YouTube and TikTok are favoured by younger demographics for news videos.
The Launch Event
Following the presentation, a panel discussion, introduced by Sinead Crowley, Director of Media Development at Coimisiún na Meán, explored the implications of these insights for the Irish media landscape. The featured panelists were Susan Daly, The Journal, Professor Colleen Murrell, FuJo, Mark Little, Media Entrepreneur, and Dr. Amy Ross, Reuters.
Dr. Amy Ross provided insightful commentary on the evolving role of AI in the news industry. She noted the rapid transition in public discourse around AI: "First of all, nobody spoke about it, and then everybody was talking about it, using it and playing with it, and now people are afraid of it." Amy highlighted that while AI technologies have been incrementally improving and have already integrated into newsrooms for tasks like personalisation and transcribing interviews, the recent surge in generative AI has brought both opportunities and uncertainties. Amy pointed out that people's comfort with AI in news increases when human journalists are still in control, whereas full automation and AI-generated realistic images and videos are met with significant resistance.
In the discussion on how news producers might need to adapt their content for today's audience, Mark Little emphasised the necessity of understanding and aligning with consumer preferences. He pointed out, “When I look at the report, the overall feeling I get is that it’s a really challenging time to be a media business, but it’s never been a better time to be a supplier of quality information.” Mark raised critical insights into audience behaviours, noting a shift away from traditional news formats towards content that resonates with younger demographics. He observed that younger audiences are increasingly engaging with content that aligns with their interests, such as climate, wellness, and technology, rather than the conventional “daily updates” or partisan debates. Mark highlighted, “I think there’s a whole range of reasons to be really hopeful that if you were to take this start-from-scratch attitude today, there’s some really exciting things in here.”
Susan Daly detailed how her organisation works to stay relevant by understanding the varying interests of different age groups, particularly noting the stark differences in engagement with issues like the climate crisis between younger and older audiences. Susan also discussed their approach to social media, stating, "We've had TikTok since last October," and underscored the importance of not relying solely on third-party platforms to distribute news. Instead, they focus on curating and editing content to provide comprehensive coverage and drive deeper engagement, using tools like explainers and fact-checking to build trust and awareness among their audience.
Prof. Colleen Murrell discussed the steady levels of trust in news organisations, noting that "trust is just down one percentage point" and highlighting that "in terms of Irish, trust is a lot higher than other countries that we compare ourselves to." She emphasised the significance of journalistic standards and transparency, mentioning that these remain the top reasons for trusting a news organisation. Colleen also raised concerns about the future impact of AI on news consumption, pointing out that "the news industry needs to be worried because, in the future, readers may go nowhere near a website because they'll be dealing with chatbot interfaces," which presents new trust challenges.
For more detailed insights, the full report and accompanying infographics are available on the Coimisiún na Meán website, click here to view. A video presentation of the data will be shared on their social media channels later this week. Be sure to follow and share using the hashtag #DNR24.