The results of the report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism are clear: digital technology, in all its forms, has definitively taken over traditional media.
Unveiled this Tuesday, June 16, this annual report produced by this institute attached to the British University of Oxford, is considered a reference for analyzing media transformations. It is based on online surveys by the company YouGov of nearly 100,000 people in 48 countries.
As already pointed out at the French level by the La Croix-Verian-La Poste barometer of trust in the media published in January 2026, it appears that the use of conversational agents, social networks or influencers is exploding. Conversely, subscriptions plateau and information avoidance intensifies.
Social networks at the top of uses for the first time
The global public now gets more information from Facebook, YouTube or TikTok than from traditional media. This year, 54% of respondents say they used social networks and video platforms to get information in the week preceding the survey (and even 56% if we include artificial intelligence conversational agents like ChatGPT). This proportion drops to 52% for television, 51% for newspaper sites and applications and 21% for radio.
Globally, social networks and video platforms are the main source of information for 3 in 10 respondents, and even more than 1 in 2 among 18-24 year olds.
The only age groups for which television still comes out on top are those over 45. For traditional media sites and apps, the ax falls even harder: no age group cites them as their primary means of information.
Confidence in news reporting is down this year in 29 of the 48 markets surveyed by the Reuters Institute. The overall average of trust has therefore reached its lowest level worldwide since measurements began in 2015: only 37% of those questioned say they trust the media, three points less than the previous year, after three years of stability. Confidence is still highest in Finland: 63%, compared to 69% in 2022.
At the same time, voluntary avoidance of information (turning off notifications, knowingly staying away from news channels and sites, etc.) reaches 42% in 2026, an absolute record, compared to 29% in 2017.
A development which is not uniform: the rate exceeds 60% in Croatia, Bulgaria and Turkey. It stabilizes in France at 37%, while it climbs by nine points in Norway (39%) and by seven points in Denmark (34%).
In South Korea, the use of AI for information has doubled
It is among the South Koreans that the progression is most impressive. Whereas 7% of them were informed via an artificial intelligence conversational agent at least once a week in 2025, there are now 14%.
Use also doubles in Greece (12%) and Spain (8%). In France, on the other hand, it remains stable (5%), as in the United States (6%) or the United Kingdom (4%).
The general average still stands at 10% weekly users, or 3 points more than in 2025. This increase is mainly due to those under 25, of whom 17% get information every week via a chatbot.
A tool widely acclaimed by young people, particularly in France. According to Arcom, 69.2% of 15-24 year olds use an AI service every month.
Popular influencers in addition to other sources
More than a quarter (27%) of those surveyed say they have viewed content produced by creators and influencers specializing in news in the past week.
But if this consumption becomes widespread, its users are not satisfied with it: only 13% of respondents consider that it is enough to inform them. In certain countries, however, a significant part of the population sticks exclusively to this content, like Kenyans who are 33% in this case.
In France, 18-24 year olds judge the content of these creators to be easier to understand (+38 points compared to traditional media), more authentic (+17 points) but also more trustworthy (+6 points). HugoDécrypte alone reaches 28% of those under 35.
The French are reluctant to pay for information
According to Reuters, the French are among the citizens least inclined to pay for information. Only 12% of them have a paid subscription to an information source – these, however, have on average two digital subscriptions.
At the global level, the figure stagnates at 17% in the 20 countries in which this indicator is monitored and only two exceed it: Norway (40%) and Sweden (32%).
The Institute also points out the variety of motivations for paying for information. If 81% of those who spend money in this direction do so to access content, they are also 46% to be motivated by their values, and therefore willing to pay, for example, to support journalism in a complex economy.
In fact, the integration of generative artificial intelligence in Google is causing an unprecedented crisis in 2026: traffic to information sites from the search engine fell by 33% between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025, seriously hampering advertising distribution and therefore the economic model of many media.
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