Digital news report, 2021

This report has been prepared by Reuters . The report’s data have been obtained from six continents and forty-six news consumer markets, and its aim is to reveal some of the key issues the industry faces at this time of deep uncertainty and imminent rapid change.

One year has passed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and its dark shadow still lies over the health of societies. The news industry, too, sits under this ominous shadow. This crisis, completed by lockdowns and various restrictions, has accelerated the demise of print newspapers and, beyond that, has affected the net profit of many well-known and independent media companies. The spread of new business models such as subscriptions and memberships has been accelerated by this crisis. But in most cases, these models have not been able to come even close to the lost revenue.

But this crisis showed the value of accurate and reliable information at a time when lives are at risk. In many countries we have seen audiences turn to trusted sources and, in addition, generally place greater trust in the media. The gap between the best media and the rest of the media has grown, just as the trust gap between news media and social networks has widened. However, these trends are not global, and the report examines concerns about imbalance in consumption and trust among young people, women, ethnic minorities, and political partisans.

Statistics and information that are examined more closely in the report:

• The effects of the coronavirus on news media
• Paying for news and changing revenue methods
• The future of local media
• Examining trust and distrust in the media
• Perceptions of media fairness
• Misinformation and the effect of coronavirus on it
• The sense of fairness of news coverage among different groups
• Examining audience values
• Why and how audiences access news through social networks
• Examining the news media market in more than 40 countries