News sites are the new newspapers: People are abandoning them for social media

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) released its 2026 Digital News Report on Monday evening, indicating a significant global shift in news consumption habits. The report reveals that people across all age groups are increasingly abandoning news websites and publisher-owned apps in favor of social media and video networks. This trend is particularly pronounced among 18- to 34-year-olds, who are dropping publisher platforms faster than traditional TV news. According to the report, nearly all online news growth now originates from third-party sources, with publishers' own digital presences being overlooked. Social media and video networks now serve as the primary news source for users in 30 out of 48 surveyed markets, surpassing owned online news websites and apps. Furthermore, news organizations have experienced a notable decline in video consumption on their own platforms, with a five-percentage-point drop from 2025 and a ten-point decrease since 2021. This occurs despite 77% of global respondents consuming online news video weekly, with third-party platforms capturing the majority of these views. While users are migrating to social media for news, the RISJ report also highlights that those relying on these platforms express greater negativity regarding coverage of major global issues, including the Ukraine conflict, inflation, political figures, Middle East conflict, climate change, and immigration. The RISJ has published its digital news report annually since 2012, with the 2026 edition surveying nearly 100,000 individuals across 48 countries.