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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
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Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2025), 170 pp.

"• Engagement with traditional media sources such as TV, print, and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video platforms, and online aggregators grows. This is particularly the case in the United States where polling overlapped with the first few weeks of the new Trum ... p administration. Social media news use was sharply up (+6pp) but there was no ‘Trump bump’ for traditional sources. • Personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates. One-fifth (22%) of our United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok. Young influencers also play a significant role in many Asian countries, including Thailand. • News use across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%. • Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). Since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022 many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news. • Changing platform strategies mean that video continues to grow in importance as a source of news. Across all markets the proportion consuming social video has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025 and any video from 67% to 75%. In the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, and India more people now say they prefer to watch the news rather than read it, further encouraging the shift to personality-led news creators. • Our survey also shows the importance of news podcasting in reaching younger, better-educated audiences. The United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions. • TikTok is the fastest growing social and video network, adding a further 4pp across markets for news and reaching 49% of our online sample in Thailand (+10pp) and 40% in Malaysia (+9pp). But at the same time people in those markets see the network as one of the biggest threats when it comes to false or misleading information, along with Facebook. • Overall, over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the United States (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%). • When it comes to underlying sources of false or misleading information, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide (47%), along with national politicians (47%). Concern about influencers is highest in African countries such as Nigeria (58%) and Kenya (59%), while politicians are considered the biggest threat in the United States (57%), Spain (57%), and much of Eastern Europe." (Executive summary, page 10-11) more

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Global Perspectives on Press Regulation. Volume 2: Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania

András Koltay, Paul Wragg

London: Hart Publishing (2024), 368 pp.

"In this ground-breaking two-volume set, world-leading experts produce a rich, authoritative depiction of the world's press, its freedom, and its limits. We want press freedom but we also want freedom from the press. A powerful press may expose corrupt government or aid it. It may champion citizens ... more

Contesting personalized recommender systems: A cross-country analysis of user preferences

Christopher Starke, Ljubisa Metikos, Natali Helberger, Claes de Vreese

Information, Communication & Society (2024), 20 pp.

"Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube wield substantial influence over digital information flows using sophisticated algorithmic recommender systems (RS). As these systems curate personalized content, concerns have emerged about their propensity to amplify polar ... more

Information Sources, Credibility, Knowledge, and Risk Perceptions: Findings from the National Tuberculosis Survey in South Korea

Jarim Kim, Sunouk You, Yesolran Kim

International Journal of Communication, volume 18 (2024), pp. 888-908

"This study explores the sources of tuberculosis (TB) information used by Koreans, focusing specifically on how sociodemographic variables influence perceptions of source credibility and how the use of different information sources influences TB-related knowledge levels and risk perceptions. Based o ... more

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The Palgrave Handbook of Cross-Border Journalism
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Liane Rothenberger, Martin Löffelholz, David H. Weaver (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xxv, 618 pp.

"This handbook critically analyzes cross-border news production and "transnational journalism cultures" in the evolving field of cross-border journalism. As the era of the internet hasfurther expanded the border-transcending production, dissemination and reception of news, and with transnational co- ... more

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Unraveling the Digital Threat: Exploring the Impact of Online Harassment on South Korean Journalists’ Professional Roles

Na Yeon Lee, Ahran Park

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, volume 101, issue 2 (2024), pp. 529-551

"This research examines whether and to what extent journalists are harassed online and the effects of online harassment on their professional roles. The study classifies online harassment against journalists into five types: insults, threats, privacy intrusion, sexual assault, and cyber-hacking. The ... more

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Hybrid Investigative Journalism

Maria Konow-Lund, Michelle Park, Saba Bebawi (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xiv, 203 pp.

"This book explores entrepreneurial attempts to combine traditional investigative journalism with alternative ways of organising this work. It transcends watershed investigative projects in favour of the ways in which new actors (citizens, technologists, bloggers and local reporters, among others) j ... more

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K-Pop Fandom and Political Activism in Thailand’s 2020 Student Uprising

Penchan Phoborisut, Jiwoo Park

International Journal of Communication, volume 18 (2024), pp. 5296-5320

"Korean popular culture has taken the world by storm with the recent rise of Korean entertainment globally, such as Squid Game on Netflix and the Oscar Award-winning Parasite. Fans of Korean popular culture have formed coalitions in Asia, North and SouthAmerica, and other parts of the world. These c ... more

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Eyewitness Textures: User-Generated Content and Journalism in the Twenty-First Century

Michael Lithgow, Michèle Martin

Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press (2024), 365 pp.

"News consumers have come to expect and demand the unprecedented immediacy of experience and coverage of breaking news offered by photographs, video clips, audio recordings, tweets, commentary: content created by ordinary citizens. The use of user-generated content is a salient aspect of how journal ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024
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Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2023), 167 pp.

"In many countries, especially outside Europe and the United States, we find a significant further decline in the use of Facebook for news and a growing reliance on a range of alternatives including private messaging apps and video networks. Facebook news consumption is down 4 percentage points, acr ... oss all countries, in the last year. • News use across online platforms is fragmenting, with six networks now reaching at least 10% of our respondents, compared with just two a decade ago. YouTube is used for news by almost a third (31%) of our global sample each week, WhatsApp by around a fifth (21%), while TikTok (13%) has overtaken Twitter (10%), now rebranded X, for the first time. • Linked to these shifts, video is becoming a more important source of online news, especially with younger groups. Short news videos are accessed by two-thirds (66%) of our sample each week, with longer formats attracting around half (51%). The main locus of news video consumption is online platforms (72%) rather than publisher websites (22%), increasing the challenges around monetisation and connection. • Although the platform mix is shifting, the majority continue to identify platforms including social media, search, or aggregators as their main gateway to online news. Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) identify news websites or apps as their main source of online news – that’s down 10 percentage points on 2018. Publishers in a few Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are showing a weaker connection with news brands than they did in the past. • Turning to the sources that people pay most attention to when it comes to news on various platforms, we find an increasing focus on partisan commentators, influencers, and young news creators, especially on YouTube and TikTok. But in social networks such as Facebook and X, traditional news brands and journalists still tend to play a prominent role. • Concern about what is real and what is fake on the internet when it comes to online news has risen by 3 percentage points in the last year with around six in ten (59%) saying they are concerned. The figure is considerably higher in South Africa (81%) and the United States (72%), both countries that have been holding elections this year. • Worries about how to distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy content in online platforms is highest for TikTok and X when compared with other online networks. Both platforms have hosted misinformation or conspiracies around stories such as the war in Gaza, and the Princess of Wales’s health, as well as so-called ‘deep fake’ pictures and videos." (Executive summary, page 10) more

Communications, media and internet concentration in South Korea, 2019-2021

Dal Yong Jin, Seoyeon Park

Global Media & Internet Concentration Project (GMIC);Carleton University (2023), 27 pp.

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Global South Discourse in East Asian Media Studies

Dal Yong Jin

London; New York: Routledge (2023), 187 pp.

"This book examines the nexus of East Asian media, culture, and digital technologies in the early 21st century from a Global South perspective. Providing an empirically rich analysis of the emergence of Asian culture, histories, texts, and state policies as they relate to both Asian media and global ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023
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Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Kirsten Eddy, Craig T. Robertson, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2023), 158 pp.

"Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) now say they prefer to start their news journeys with a website or app – that’s down 10 percentage points since 2018. Publishers in a few smaller Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are ... showing a weaker connection with news brands’ own websites and apps than previous cohorts – preferring to access news via side-door routes such as social media, search, or mobile aggregators. • Facebook remains one of the most-used social networks overall, but its influence on journalism is declining as it shifts its focus away from news. It also faces new challenges from established networks such as YouTube and vibrant youth-focused networks such as TikTok. The Chinese-owned social network reaches 44% of 18–24s across markets and 20% for news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. • When it comes to news, audiences say they pay more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than journalists in networks like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. This contrasts sharply with Facebook and Twitter, where news media and journalists are still central to the conversation. • Much of the public is sceptical of the algorithms used to select what they see via search engines, social media, and other platforms. Less than a third (30%) say that having stories selected for me on the basis of previous consumption is a good way to get news, 6 percentage points lower than when we last asked the question in 2016. Despite this, on average, users still slightly prefer news selected this way to that chosen by editors or journalists (27%), suggesting that worries about algorithms are part of a wider concern about news and how it is selected. • Despite hopes that the internet could widen democratic debate, we find fewer people are now participating in online news than in the recent past. Aggregated across markets, only around a fifth (22%) are now active participators, with around half (47%) not participating in news at all. In the UK and United States, the proportion of active participators has fallen by more than 10 percentage points since 2016. Across countries we find that this group tends to be male, better educated, and more partisan in their political vie ws. • Trust in the news has fallen, across markets, by a further 2 percentage points in the last year, reversing in many countries the gains made at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. On average, four in ten of our total sample (40%) say they trust most news most of the time. Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust (69%), while Greece (19%) has the lowest after a year characterised by heated arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media." (Summary, page 10) more

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How online harassment affects Korean journalists? The effects of online harassment on the journalists’ psychological problems and their intention to leave the profession

Na Yeon Lee, Ahran Park

Journalism, volume 25, issue 4 (2023), pp. 900-920

"This study examined the effects of online harassment on journalists’ psychological trauma and their intention to leave work. It also investigated whether journalists’ psychological trauma mediates the effects of online harassment on their intention to leave the profession and whether gender mak ... more

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Digital Scarlet Letter on Journalists: Weaponized Harassment Against Journalists in South Korea

Na Yeon Lee, Ahran Park

Journalism Practice, volume 18, issue 2 (2023), pp. 319-336

"This article seeks to contribute to the existing research on journalist harassment by examining the experiences of Korean journalists who have faced online harassment. While extensive research has been conducted on this issue, there is a need for comparative studies to understand the unique pattern ... more

What Role Does Media Entertainment Play in Emerging Adults’ Political Identity and Engagement Across Cultures?

Frank M Schneider, Katharina Knop-Huelss, Jinhee Kim, Larisa Buhin et. al

International Journal of Communication, volume 17 (2023), pp. 1445-1465

"In light of the controversial relationship and blurred lines between information and entertainment media, the current study’s goal aimed at qualitatively exploring media entertainment’s role in emerging adults’ political identity formation and engagement. By analyzing 55 semistructured interv ... more

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Sin and Divine Punishment: The Korean Series JIOK (HELLBOUND, KR 2021–), New Religious Movements, and a World Full of Guilt

Franz Winter

Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM), volume 9, issue 2 (2023), pp. 87-99

"The TV series Jiok (Yon Sang-ho, 2021-), internationally known as Hellbound, is a recent and highly successful series that has been available on the streaming platform Netflix since November 2021. It is usually described as a "dark mystery thriller" or "dark fantasy film", which points to the gener ... more

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Transnational Convergence of East Asian Pop Culture

Seok-Kyeong Hong, Dal Yong Jin (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2023), 238 pp.

"This book observes and analyses transnational interactions of East Asian pop culture and current cultural practices, comparing them to the production and consumption of Western popular culture and providing a theoretical discussion regarding the specific paradigm of East Asian pop culture. Drawing ... more

Transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting

Geneva: ITU (2023), 239 pp.

"The purpose of this Report is to help the countries that are in the process of migrating from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting. The Report examines the reasons why this is happening and the technologies involved. It provides an overview of digital terrestrial sound and television broadc ... more