In the midst of the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, the rise of deepfake technology, the advancement of artificial intelligence, the popularity of videos, the reluctance to pay for online news, and the decline of traditional social media platforms like Facebook and X are all contributing to a decline in interest in news.
As the world sees a record number of voters heading to the polls, these factors are creating pressures and uncertainties in the publishing world. This is the scenario painted by the 2024 Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute, which for the seventh consecutive year ranks ANSA as the most reliable news source in Italy.
According to the annual analysis conducted in 47 countries and now in its thirteenth edition, ANSA leads the ranking with 75% of Italians expressing trust in the news agency, followed by SkyTG24, Il Sole 24 Ore, and Tg La7. ANSA.it ranks third among news websites, with 18% of users visiting it weekly.
Among websites, Fanpage takes the top spot, followed by TgCom24 online, SkyTg24, and Repubblica.it. In terms of television and radio, Rai news programs lead the way, followed by Mediaset, TgCom24, and SkyTg24.
The Report shows that overall trust in news in Italy remains stable at 34%, while the percentage of Italians paying for news subscriptions has declined to 10%. The consumption of physical newspapers continues to decrease, with only 13% using print sources (a 3% decrease from the previous year).
Television consumption has dropped by four percentage points (now at 65%), while 69% of Italians access news online (a 1% decrease from the previous year). 82% of news is read on smartphones. The newspaper industry is facing a crisis, with a “significant drop in copies sold (-37% from 2019 to 2023) and advertisers preferring other platforms.” Online advertising (58%) has overtaken television (29%) and print media (5%). Google and Facebook dominate advertising revenues (85%), leaving publishers with only a small share (15%) of digital advertising income.
Globally, the Reuters Report notes a record decline in interest in news, suggesting that “conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East may have had an impact.” Up to 39% of respondents admit to avoiding news (+3% from the previous year), with more significant increases in Brazil, Spain, Germany, and Finland. Subscription rates remain stagnant, with only 17% stating that they have paid for news.
“The prospects of attracting new subscribers remain limited due to low interest and the abundance of free sources. 55% of non-subscribers would not pay anything for news online,” the research highlights. With billions of people worldwide navigating media platforms, six in 10 individuals (59%) are alarmed by their inability to distinguish reliable content from misinformation online, especially on platforms like TikTok and X, the former Twitter.
The Report also raises concerns among the 100,000 respondents regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence for news content, particularly for ‘hard news’ like politics and war. Only 23% in the US and 15% in Europe support predominantly AI-written news with human supervision. There is more openness to news written by journalists with the help of generative artificial intelligence, with 42% in the US and 33% in Europe expressing favorability.
Lastly, the consumption of news via video formats has increased – with 66% accessing news videos weekly, especially among the younger demographic – while podcasts remain a niche activity. Additionally, the consumption of news from traditional social media platforms like Facebook and X has declined. Rasmus Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute, concludes that “this increasingly complex ecosystem and growing competition for capturing audience attention are forcing journalists and publishers to work much harder to engage the public and persuade them to pay for news.”
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