Social media and video networks have overtaken traditional TV channels and news websites as the main source of news in the United States, research by the Reuters Institute suggests.
According to the 14th annual report by the institute, based on a survey of almost 100,000 people in 48 countries, more than half (54%) of people in the US get news from networks like Facebook, X and YouTube, overtaking TV (50%) and news sites and apps (48%).
Its author, Nic Newman, said the rise of social video and personality-driven news “represents another significant challenge for traditional publishers”.
Podcaster Joe Rogan was the most widely seen personality, with almost a quarter (22%) of the population saying they had come across news or commentary from him in the previous week.
According to the BBC, the report also finds that usage of X for news is “stable or increasing across many markets”.
It finds that since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022, “many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently”.
In the US, the proportion self-identifying as being on the right tripled after Musk’s takeover.
In the UK, right-wing X audiences have almost doubled.
Other key findings are that TikTok is the fastest-growing social and video network, used for news by 17% of people around the world, up four percentage points since last year; the use of AI chatbots to get the news is on the rise, and is twice as popular among under-25s than the population as a whole; most people think AI will make news less transparent, accurate and trustworthy, and that all generations still prize trusted brands with a track record for accuracy, even if they don’t use them as often as they once did
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