The Asian College of Journalism collaborated with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ), on the Digital News Report, 2024. The 13th edition of the report was released on June 17, 2024 (Monday) and will feature India for the fourth successive year.
This year’s report looks at, among other topics, news consumption habits of consumers across 47 markets, along with the role of platforms, particularly video-led platforms in fragmenting online news use among the audience. The report also looks at trust in news, the perception of audiences on the use of AI in the news industry, and concerns over misinformation and disinformation on online platforms.
The Asian College of Journalism provided support in identifying news brands and other specific details relevant for the Indian market in the survey questionnaire, verifying Hindi translation of the questionnaire, and contextualising the main findings for India in its country profile.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: INDIA
In India, during an election year, television (46%) and social media (49%) registered a decrease of 3 pp each as sources of news among our survey respondents, compared to 2023. However, overall trust in news increased to 41% (an increase of 3 pp), pushing India to the 18th position among 47 countries in the survey. Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust in news (69%), while Greece and Hungary registered the lowest levels of overall trust in news (23%) in the survey.
Only 45% of the respondents share news online, a slight decrease from last year (2 pp). Legacy media brands such as newspapers and public broadcasters continued to retain high levels of trust among our respondents.
Youtube continued to be the popular social media brand for news, with more than half the respondents (54%) accessing it for the same. WhatsApp (48%) and Facebook (35%) were the next popular social media platforms to access news.
The respondents for India are mainly English-speaking, online news users leaning generally towards a more affluent, younger, educated, and city-dwelling population. They represent a small portion of a diverse and vibrant media market in the country. Therefore, the findings should not be taken to be nationally representative.
For more details, read the full report here
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2024