Stats IQ: News Consumption

Context: According to Reuters Institute Digital News Report, 2023, overall consumption and sharing of news declined in India compared to last year.

Trust in news	India witnessed a small decrease of 3 percentage points in overall trust in news (38%). It was placed at the 24th position, which was topped by Finland. Respondents in the country showed high levels of trust in public broadcasters like DD India, All India Radio, and BBC News.
Social media platform for news	YouTube with 56% was the most preferred social media platform for news, followed by WhatsApp and Facebook at 47% and 39% respectively. Video-based content via platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, is becoming more important for news. The role of Facebook in this regard has been declining. The use of Twitter for news has remained relatively stable. However, alternatives to Twitter have not yet captured user attention. TikTok has become the fastest growing social network, used by 44% of the 18-24 age group in parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Access to news website	Users accessing news via a news website or app has fallen from 32% in 2018 to 22% in 2023. However, dependence on social media for news has grown from 23% to 30%.
Podcast	About 34% of the respondents accessed a podcast monthly, while 12% accessed a show on current affairs and news. This was prominent among educated younger generation.
News avoiders	There is an increasing trend of news avoiders, with around half (53%) trying to avoid all news periodically, while 32% tended to avoid “difficult topics”.