News avoidance, vertical video and discount subscriptions: 2024 Digital News Report findings

Lessons to learn from the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 

This week, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism released its 2024 Digital News Report, and there were a multitude of lessons for newsrooms around the world. 

Press Gazette focused on news avoidance levels discussed in the report — 39% of people now selectively avoid the news across 20 markets, up by 10 points in the last seven years. Nieman Lab spotlighted a finding that people with the least interest in politics and news are the least likely to trust the media. Poynter highlighted the data that 60% of people who pay for digital news do so at a discounted rate. Reuters reported that most people wouldn’t trust news produced mostly by AI. And on X, Sophia Smith Galer looks at the success of short form, vertical news video.

To explore more, Guardian journalist Chris Moran created an unofficial GPT that will answer questions about the report. 

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Sinclair floods local news websites with hundreds of deceptive articles about Biden’s mental fitness (Popular Information)

Sinclair Broadcast Group repackaged untrue social media posts from the Republican National Committee as news and reproduced them on local news sites across the country. The posts made false and exaggerated claims about President Biden’s actions at various events. 

>> How five news outlets joined forces to broadcast the Indian elections’ result with the help of audience funding (Reuters Institute)

Five independent news organizations in India convened in one place to cover the recent elections with a live simulcast across their YouTube channels. The joint effort allowed them to collaborate on tabulating data, coordinating guests and analyzing results. 

>> Join us: Coaching reporters on election coverage

Join The Associated Press news leaders for a conversation on how to coach new reporters on navigating the political landscape, pressing for facts and context and being able to spot misinformation. You’ll come away prepared to help your newsroom cover this year’s elections. The webinar will be held next Thursday, June 27 from 1 – 2pm EDT; click here to register. 

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Culture & Inclusion

>> Washington Post reporters probe their own bosses amid newsroom uproar (Axios)

Post reporters are covering their publisher William Lewis’s involvement in the 2000s British phone hacking scandal — and Lewis is declining to comment for their stories. Former senior managing editor Cameron Barr is overseeing the coverage of Lewis as a contractor.

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Community Engagement & Trust

>> La Periodista de Iowa (Columbia Journalism Review)

Lorena López is the founder, editor and main reporter for La Prensa de Iowa, a Spanish-language news outlet in western Iowa that delivers most of its news via a weekly print publication that is distributed for free in stores around the county. 

>> Address misinformation head-on (Trusting News)

If we want people to be able to decipher good information from bad, to turn to us as a credible news source and to trust that we work to combat misinformation, we have to start addressing it publicly. Here are some ways journalists can do that: don’t ignore rumors; publicly own up to mistakes; empathize with people and validate skepticism; help people navigate the news; and share what makes your news different. 

>> Join us: Metrics for News Demo

Learn how Metrics for News can help bring deeper context and insight to your audience analytics and make better sense of how your journalism is engaging with your readers and your community. Join us for a webinar tomorrow, June 20 at 3pm ET.

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Revenue & Resilience

>> How one of the world’s oldest daily newspapers reinvented itself – overnight (WAN-IFRA)

320-year-old Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung had depended on revenue from mandated government notices until a law repealed that requirement in 2022. Within a year, they had successfully revamped the newsroom to focus on digital products and appeal to a younger audience. 

>> Growing costs, falling sponsorship fuel wave of layoffs in pubmedia (Current) 

There have been more than 400 layoffs in public media in the past year. For Colorado Public Radio, layoffs came as revenue growth was not keeping up with expenses. 

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What else you need to know

🤖 Business Insider’s owner signed a huge OpenAI deal. ChatGPT still won’t credit the site’s biggest scoops (Nieman Lab)

🫱🏽‍🫲🏿 70% of unionized Daily Beast staffers take buyouts as layoffs loom (The Wrap) 

🎙️ Reporter’s lawsuit secures rights for US jail staff to speak with media (VOA News)

The post News avoidance, vertical video and discount subscriptions: 2024 Digital News Report findings appeared first on American Press Institute.