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South African are turning to online content creators and artificial intelligence platforms, in growing numbers, for their news.This is according to the Digital News Report for 2026, conducted by the Reuters Institute and Oxford University. According to the report, “digital news creators are growing increasingly influential, making the online news environment more crowded and competitive, and accelerating the shift of audiences away from legacy outlets and towards smaller digital, personality‑driven platforms.” The report highlights former News24 and Sunday Times reporter Qaanitah Hunter’s Debrief Network. Founded in 2025, its goal is to become “a habit for people who currently live outside the news cycle”.Other examples include Dan Corder and Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, who have both used podcasting in tandem with platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and others to become trusted sources of news. In the case of Corder, he was able to turn his online podcast into a news show on broadcast network eNCA. In addition to these online “news influencers”, people are increasing using AI platforms for their news. OpenAI reported on a ChatGPT user who generated at least 38 pro-Kremlin articles, the majority of which were published on South African news sites under the byline of a fictitious writerThe study found evidence of rising weekly use of AI chatbots for news, up from 7% to 10% globally since last year, “driven largely by growth in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as southern and eastern Europe”. These are markets where “platformisation of news is stronger”.The authors did highlight that while this is still a “fairly small minority of the population”, the figure represents “a substantial relative increase and indicates that AI is beginning to play a more meaningful role in news consumption alongside established pathways”. For now, the conclusion is that AI plays “a complementary role for most users” as only 1% of those surveyed cite it is their main source of news.Alarm has also been raised about ethics and bias of news consumed on AI platforms. OpenAI reported on a ChatGPT user who generated at least 38 pro-Kremlin articles, the majority of which were published on South African news sites under the byline of a fictitious writer.“The vulnerability of media ethics was highlighted when an SABC journalist was placed on precautionary suspension following allegations of accepting payment of R500 (just $30) in exchange for a source’s contact details,” said the report. A recent report by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa at Stellenbosch University which showed that journalists are using AI tools for research, summarisation, transcription, translation and for drafting headlines and social media content. A number of media houses have announced retrenchments to cope with the loss of advertising revenue, particularly for legacy businessesWhile progressive, Stellenbosch reported that media practitioners themselves have expressed concerns about trust. In short, South Africa has “an energetic news media workforce that understands the importance of embracing new technology but which also feels ill-equipped to use the technology responsibly, largely due to a lack of systematic training”.Globally, Reuters and Oxford noted, 16% of people under the age of 35 consume the news via AI. This is all against the backdrop of shrinking newsrooms in the country. A number of media houses have announced retrenchments to cope with the loss of advertising revenue, particularly for legacy businesses: Associated Media Publishing, which ran titles such as Cosmopolitan, has shut its doors.Media24 closed the print editions of five newspapers, transitioning three of them into digital-only brands and putting hundreds of jobs on the line. Daily Maverick has made a number of announcements around cost-reduction resulting in lost jobs.Independent Media — owner of publications such as The Star, Cape Times and Isolezwe — has also announced retrenchments, citing substantially the same reasons as Daily Maverick about an unsustainable media industry.Much of this has been attributed to the shift in the consumption of digital news sources as a result of smartphones and more affordable access to the internet. As per the Reuters and Oxford report, this list now includes news influencers and AI. Business Day
