The future of media: more digital and more
economic pain, Reuters Institute says
Guy Faulcon
LONDON
(Reuters) - The coronavirus outbreak has prompted a significant increase in
news consumption but the economic turmoil is forcing news businesses to
accelerate their move to digital, The Reuters Institute for the Study of
Journalism said.
Men wearing
protective face masks work at a printing press amid the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain, June 13, 2020. REUTERS/Juan Medina
The
coronavirus lockdowns prompted a global rise in viewing of television and
online news though concerns about misinformation remain high, with Facebook and
WhatsApp seen as the main channels for spreading so called “fake news”.
The broader
picture is that the outbreak is accelerating the trends wrought by the
technological revolution, including the rise of smartphones as an interface of
news consumption, The Reuters Institute said in its annual Digital News Report
(www.digitalnewsreport.org).
“The
headline is that we see an accelerated move to digital media and mobile media
and various kinds of platforms,” Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters
Institute, said by telephone.
“This is
accompanied by a continued decline in trust in news and growing concerns over
misinformation, in particular on social media and from some politicians.”
The biggest
increase in concern over media misinformation was in Hong Kong - where
anti-government protesters have opposed attempts by China to tighten its
control of the former British colony.
The
business of news remains bleak. Media across the world are cutting staff to
cope with a dramatic fall in advertising revenue.
But a ray
of hope may be that increasing numbers of people are willing to pay for news
online, though that may also increase informational inequality as many cannot
afford top quality journalism.
And a
“winner takes all” process can be seen: Around half of those that subscribe to
any online or combined package in the United States use the New York Times or
the Washington Post, the Reuters Institute found.
A similar
trend can be seen in the United Kingdom with The Times or the Telegraph.
And for
those predicting the dominance of video news, the Reuters Institute found that
in a number of countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and
South Korea, people under 35 preferred to read rather than watch news online.
The Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism is a research centre at the University of
Oxford that tracks media trends. The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the
philanthropic arm of Thomson Reuters, funds the Reuters Institute.
Editing by
Stephen Addison
Our
Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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