Social media and video networks have become the main source of news in the US, overtaking traditional TV channels and news websites, research suggests.
More than half (54%) of people get news from networks like Facebook, X and YouTube – overtaking TV (50%) and news sites and apps (48%), according to the Reuters Institute.
“The rise of social media and personality-based news is not unique to the United States, but changes seem to be happening faster – and with more impact – than in other countries,” a report found.
Podcaster Joe Rogan was the most widely-seen personality, with almost a quarter (22%) of the population saying they had come across news or commentary from him in the previous week.
The report’s author Nic Newman said the rise of social video and personality-driven news “represents another significant challenge for traditional publishers”.
The institute also highlighted a trend for some politicians to give their time to sympathetic online hosts rather than mainstream interviewers.
It said populist politicians around the world are “increasingly able to bypass traditional journalism in favour of friendly partisan media, ‘personalities’, and ‘influencers’ who often get special access but rarely ask difficult questions, with many implicated in spreading false narratives or worse”.
Despite their popularity, online influencers and personalities were named as a major source of false or misleading information by almost half of people worldwide (47%) – putting them level with politicians.
The report also stated that usage of X for news is “stable or increasing across many markets”, with the biggest uplift in the US.
It added that since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022, “many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently”.
In the US, the proportion that self-identified as being on the right tripled after Musk’s takeover.
(BBC)
