Key findings from the Digital News Report 2024
Summary
Among key trends of the 2024 report, the Reuters Institute highlights the rising popularity of video-based networks and an increasing news fatigue, factors which lead to changing platforms strategies. Even podcasts, which remain a bright spot but still a minority activity overall that essentially attracts younger, richer and better educated audiences, are more and more filmed, blurring the lines with video format. Media are often seen by interviewees as repetitive, relentless and boring and for some, the negative nature of the news and the overwhelming volume of content make them feel anxious and powerless. To attract users, discounting their subscription fee is the most recurrent persuading method used by news brands, but this business model is “likely to be a long and difficult road with few winners and many casualties along the way”. Artificial Intelligence raises concerns regarding the potential increasing difficulty to detect fake news and the impact of discriminatory bias.