How do people stay informed in our digital age? And who do they trust? The Reuters Digital News Report 2026 answers those questions. The study, presented at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn, shows how journalism and its usage is evolving — especially among young people.
Jim Egan, who led the study, didn't exactly strike an optimistic tone in his presentation, saying that the "data this year is quite unsettling in many aspects." Egan is the main author of the report — carried out by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford — the largest annual survey on news consumption of its kind globally.
Egan pointed out that the report's aim is not to provide comfort but rather to present a snapshot of reality: "We do this as an exercise in trying to insert some facts and some comparative analysis across different markets into an industry and into an ecosystem that is full of opinion but does not always know what's actually going on."
Reuters Digital News Report 2026 author Jim Egan says young people are 'not only leaving' news coverage, most are 'not even starting' to follow itImage: Björn Kietzmann/DW
Social media currently leads the field
