Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026

Three key themes emerge in our report this year around structural access, formats for consuming the news, and trust levels amongst audiences. The first central theme is the intensifying ‘platformisation’ of news consumption. Social media and video networks are now the most widely used sources of news globally, ahead of both TV news and news organisations’ own online properties in terms of the proportion of people using them weekly. The second theme is born of the first. News consumption on these platforms is marked by the growing importance of online video and the rise of creators and influencers as part of the news environment. For many audiences, these sources complement rather than replace traditional news, but they are redrawing the format, tone, and accessibility of journalism and the public. We are also witnessing the first meaningful steps towards the integration of artificial intelligence into news journeys. The third key takeaway from our findings this year points to trust levels amongst audiences. Trust dropped significantly in 29 of the 48 markets we surveyed, and overall trust levels have fallen to their lowest since we started tracking this metric. From a period of relative stability, these drops are significant and perhaps reveal an institutional fragility shaped by wider political, social, and technological forces.