Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021 10TH EDITION Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021 10TH EDITION Nic Newman with Richard Fletcher, Anne Schulz, Simge Andı, Craig T. Robertson, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen Supported by Spanish translation supported by Surveyed by © Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Digital News Report 2021 4 Contents Foreword by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen 5 3.17 Poland 94 Methodology 6 3.18 Portugal 96 Authorship and Research Acknowledgements 7 3.19 Romania 98 3.20 Slovakia 100 SECTION 1 3.21 Spain 102 Executive Summary and Key Findings by Nic Newman 9 3.22 Sweden 104 3.23 Switzerland 106 SECTION 2 3.24 Turkey 108 Further Analysis and International Comparison 33 AMERICAS 2.1 Perceptions of Fair News Coverage among Different Groups 34 3.25 United States 112 2.2 Impartiality Unpacked: A Study of Four Countries 39 3.26 Argentina 114 2.3 Local News Unbundled: 3.27 Brazil 116 Where Audience Value Still Lies 43 3.28 Canada 118 2.4 How do People Think about the Financing 3.29 Chile 120 of the Commercial News Media? 48 3.30 Colombia 122 2.5 How and Why do Consumers Access News on Social Media? 52 3.31 Mexico 124 3.32 Peru 126 SECTION 3 ASIA PACIFIC Analysis by Country and Market 59 3.33 Australia 130 EUROPE 3.34 Hong Kong 132 3.01 United Kingdom 62 3.35 India 134 3.02 Austria 64 3.36 Indonesia 136 3.03 Belgium 66 3.37 Japan 138 3.04 Bulgaria 68 3.38 Malaysia 140 3.05 Croatia 70 3.39 Philippines 142 3.06 Czech Republic 72 3.40 Singapore 144 3.07 Denmark 74 3.41 South Korea 146 3.08 Finland 76 3.42 Taiwan 148 3.09 France 78 3.43 Thailand 150 3.10 Germany 80 AFRICA 3.11 Greece 82 3.44 Kenya 154 3.12 Hungary 84 3.45 Nigeria 156 3.13 Ireland 86 3.46 South Africa 158 3.14 Italy 88 3.15 Netherlands 90 SECTION 4 3.16 Norway 92 References and Selected Publications 161 4 / 5 Foreword Prof. Rasmus Nielsen, Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) This is the tenth edition of our Digital News Report and a milestone Our survey this year covered 46 markets, including 24 in Europe, for us in that the 46 markets covered this year account for more and six in Latin America where we have added Colombia and than half the world’s population. We are particularly proud to Peru. In Asia we have added India, Indonesia, and Thailand to our be able to include more countries in the Global South, primarily existing eight markets, and in Africa we are delighted to include because we hope the data and analysis we present are useful for Nigeria for the first time, following the inclusion of Kenya in 2020 journalists, editors, and media executives there, but also because and South Africa in 2019. we strongly believe their colleagues elsewhere can learn a lot Because we use online polling, we continue to focus on countries from the situation in countries where news media have long faced with high internet penetration and which are either broadly political attacks, financial precarity, and internet users heavily democratic or generally compare themselves to countries with oriented towards mobile and social media – some of the realities a democratic tradition. Even so, the increasing number and journalists in historically more privileged parts of the world diversity of markets covered have led us to compare fewer data increasingly have to deal with. points across the whole sample and to focus on meaningful Our findings this year show how, if anything, the Coronavirus comparisons across markets that are broadly similar. We’ve pandemic has exacerbated many of the long-term trends we have provided more detail about differences in polling samples in both documented over the past decade, especially the move to a more the methodology pages and the relevant country pages. digital, mobile, and platform-dominated media environment. This report continues to benefit from a strong network of partners Developments this year put further pressure on the business and sponsors around the world. We are proud to have the models of many traditional media, but have also reminded opportunity to work with a number of leading academics as well at least parts of the public of the importance and value of as media experts from the news industry. Our partners have helped trustworthy news from independent news organisations. in a variety of different ways, checking questionnaires, helping This year’s survey finds evidence that some brands have benefited with interpretation, and often publishing their own reports. from a desire for reliable information around the pandemic – Given the richness of the research, this report can only convey a both in terms of higher reach, higher trust, and more paying small part of the data and analysis. More detail is available on our subscribers. While the effects are uneven, do not apply to all website https://www.digitalnewsreport.org/2021 which contains brands or all countries, and may not last after the crisis is over, slidepacks and charts, along with a licence that encourages reuse, these are positive findings from publishers’ point of view. subject to attribution. Our analysis also shows how the role of different platforms Making all this possible, we are hugely grateful to our sponsors: is evolving. We document the roles played by mainstream the Google News Initiative, BBC News, Ofcom, the Broadcasting news organisations, individual journalists, and other voices on Authority of Ireland, the Dutch Media Authority (CvdM), the different social media, the continuing move to closed messaging Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland, the Fritt Ord apps and more visual social media, as well as the continued Foundation in Norway, the Korea Press Foundation, and Edelman widespread public concern over false or misleading information – UK, as well as our academic sponsors at the Leibniz Institute for especially Facebook and Facebook-owned messaging applications Media Research/Hans Bredow Institute, Hamburg, the University including WhatsApp. of Navarra, the University of Canberra, the Centre d’études sur les Amid deep divisions within many societies over politics and social médias, Quebec, Canada, and Roskilde University in Denmark. justice, we ask searching questions about what people expect The Open Society Foundations has played a key role in helping from their news and examine attitudes to traditional notions of us to expand the report to cover more countries in the Global journalistic impartiality and objectivity. We also explore how fairly South over the last few years, as has Google’s commitment to the media are seen as treating different groups including women, a three-year extension of their support for the report. This year young people, and ethnic minorities. Fundación Gabo has joined the project, and we are delighted they are supporting the translation of the report into Spanish. And our report continues to document the economic impact of digital disruption which has been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic (even as platform companies including Google and Facebook reported significant growth last year). Given the financial challenges the business of news faces, we explore public attitudes to whether the government should step in to support commercial media – but find little appetite for this. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism / Digital News Report 2021 6 Methodology This study has been commissioned by the Reuters Institute • These differences mean we need to be cautious when for the Study of Journalism to understand how news is being comparing results between markets, especially on issues consumed in a range of countries. Research was conducted by where we know that the sample would potentially make a YouGov (and their partners) using an online questionnaire at significant difference (e.g. paying for news or podcasts). the end of January/beginning of February 2021. • It is also important to note that online surveys rely on recall, • Samples were assembled using nationally representative quotas which is often imperfect or subject to biases. We have tried to for age, gender, region in every market, and education in all markets mitigate these risks through careful questionnaire design and except Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, testing. Despite other limitations, surveys are able to capture Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Thailand, and media consumption across platforms, including social media, Turkey. In the US, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Italy we have messaging apps, and websites. They are also a good way of applied additional political quotas based on vote choice in the most tracking activities and changes over time in a consistent way.2 recent national election. The data in all markets were also weighted • It is important to note that some of our survey-based results to targets based on census/industry-accepted data. will not match industry data, which are often based on • Data from India, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are representative different methodologies, such as web-tracking. The accuracy of younger English-speakers and not the national population, of these approaches can be high, but they are also subject to because it is not possible to reach other groups in a representative limitations. way using an online survey. The survey was fielded in English in • In some cases, we have drawn on data from other surveys or these markets,1 and restricted to ages 18–50 in Kenya and Nigeria. from industry sources and have signalled this in the text or Findings should not be taken to be nationally representative in as a footnote.