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Fighting for journalism and profitable news media
Tech platforms overtake publishers as global news source | Mirror launches paywall
Plus survey reveals gap between climate change concern and actual news coverage
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Good morning from the team at Press Gazette on Tuesday, 16 June.
This is the event which recognises the best digital journalism products (newsletters, podcasts, websites and apps) and recognises the best in news media innovation.
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🤓 The latest Reuters Institute Digital News report is out this morning and as ever provides a priceless insight into the major disruptive trends impacting news in the UK, US and around the world.
Social and video networks have remained pretty much stable as a source of news over the last five years as TV and publisher websites/apps have declined. Now, for the first time, the former have overtaken the latter as a source of news.
This explains the ongoing focus from major newsbrands on publishing directly to platforms like Youtube and Tiktok.
Trust in news and news avoidance remain major trends in the UK and US (with both markets following a similar pattern of decline over the last decade).
In the UK, just 30% of people say they trust “most news most of the time” compared with more than 50% a decade ago. The topics that people believe are most poorly covered by news media are: immigration, climate and the Middle East.
Despite the ongoing rise of paywalls across news websites, the proportion of Britons saying they pay for online news remains stubbornly stable at 10% of the population. In the US it has actually fallen from 20% to 16%.
This means the focus for many UK publishers is on nurturing their existing fanbases and seeking growth abroad.
One positive trend (as I see it) is the fact AI answer engines remain a tiny part of the mix when it comes to news consumption with just 4% and 6% in the UK and US respectively using them for this purpose.
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💷 The latest UK news website to follow the paywall trend is the Mirror, which yesterday began charging £3.99 for access to premium articles (including original in-depth reporting and comment).
According to Ipsos iris data the Mirror is the fourth biggest news website in the UK in terms of monthly reach with a total audience of 20 million.
Looking at the top ten biggest UK online news websites only the BBC, Guardian, Yahoo! and Sky News don’t yet operate some form of website paywall.
The Reuters Digital News Report shows that collectively publishers are failing to grow the market for paid online news suggesting a tough grind is ahead for the Mirror as it starts its paywall journey.
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As the Reuters survey shows, the public doesn’t like the way this topic is covered.
New research suggests broadcast journalists themselves see climate change as one of the top three most important issues in public life (alongside the cost of living and the wider economy). Yet this is not reflected in terms of daily coverage.
Ryley says: “Too often there is littl