A new report by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism suggests that Facebook is becoming significantly less important as a source of news. The report titled “Digital News Report -2023” found that only 28% of people surveyed accessed news through Facebook in 2023, compared to 42% in 2016.  The figures were based on interviews with some 94,000 people across 46 countries, conducted for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, part of Britain's University of Oxford. “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,” Lead author Nic Newman said in a press release. Also read: CNN head Chris Licht is out at the global news network after a brief, tumultuous tenure Newman highlighted that Facebook now 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,” he said. Meanwhile, the report found that influencers and celebrities are increasingly taking over from journalists as the main source of news for young people across almost all social media platforms except for Twitter and Facebook. A new report by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism suggests that Facebook is becoming significantly less important as a source of news. Also read: Lack of transparency exposes Bangladeshi news sites to disinformation risks: new report The report titled “Digital News Report -2023” found that only 28% of people surveyed accessed news through Facebook in 2023, compared to 42% in 2016.  The figures were based on interviews with some 94,000 people across 46 countries, conducted for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, part of Britain's University of Oxford. “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,” Lead author Nic Newman said in a press release. Newman highlighted that Facebook now faces new challenges from established networks such as YouTube and vibrant youth-focused networks such as TikTok. Also read: Trial begins in case against Fox News for false election claims “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,” he said. Meanwhile, the report found that influencers and celebrities are increasingly taking over from journalists as the main source of news for young people across almost all social media platforms except for Twitter and Facebook. According to the report, 55 percent of TikTok and Snapchat users and 52 percent of Instagram users get their news from "personalities" — compared to 33 percent of Tiktok, 36 percent of Snapchat and 42 percent of Instagram users who get it from mainstream media and journalists on those platforms, which are most popular among the young.  “We find that, while mainstream journalists often lead conversations around news in Twitter and Facebook, they struggle to get attention in newer networks like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, where personalities, influencers, and ordinary people are often more prominent, even when it comes to conversations around news,” Newman said. Also read: Tucker Carlson leaves Fox News  Trust and interest in news Among other indicators, the news industry has seen a sharp decline in terms of trust and interest. According to the report, trust in the news has fallen across markets by further 2-percentage points in the last year, reversing in many countries the gains made at the height of the pandemic. “On average, 40% of our sample say they trust most news most of the time,” the lead author of the report said. Meanwhile, around 36% of the interviewees said they actively avoided the news sometimes or often, seven points above the figure in 2017 but two points lower than last year. Read more: Journalism award to recognize outstanding reporting on Bangladesh-China trade, investment ties In interviews, many said that news stories are too repetitive or too “emotionally draining”. According to the report, 55 percent of TikTok and Snapchat users and 52 percent of Instagram users get their news from "personalities" — compared to 33 percent of Tiktok, 36 percent of Snapchat and 42 percent of Instagram users who get it from mainstream media and journalists on those platforms, which are most popular among the young.  “We find that, while mainstream journalists often lead conversations around news in Twitter and Facebook, they struggle to get attention in newer networks like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, where personalities, influencers, and ordinary people are often more prominent, even when it comes to conversations around news,” Newman said. Trust and interest in news Among other indicators, the news industry has seen a sharp decline in terms of trust and interest. Read more: Women’s participation in journalism still very low: Dialogue According to the report, trust in the news has fallen across markets by further 2-percentage points in the last year, reversing in many countries the gains made at the height of the pandemic. “On average, 40% of our sample say they trust most news most of the time,” the lead author of the report said. Meanwhile, around 36% of the interviewees said they actively avoided the news sometimes or often, seven points above the figure in 2017 but two points lower than last year. In interviews, many said that news stories are too repetitive or too “emotionally draining”. Read more: Russian House lauds growing presence of online journalism in Bangladesh

Making a positive difference to someone’s life is the greatest gift a journalist can give. Perhaps an individual is heard for the first time, or an injustice is settled. Those moments when a news editor picks up a phone to hear a scared voice say, ‘you are all I have left, I have nowhere else to turn’. The last stand between hope and defeat. It is a sacred contract, as old as journalism itself yet the tenor of our times would try to divide the people from the newsrooms. If those who attempt to turn journalists into the enemy are successful, the people’s right to independent access to information will be lost. And as we all know a world where people are blinded from facts is a dangerous one.  During the global pandemic, record audience numbers were reported around the world as readers, viewers and listeners absorbed the news and information that saved lives. Nevertheless, an ever more vociferous minority pedalled a derogatory term, the so-called “mainstream media” – as if being together in a fact-based environment is a bad thing. Read: Survey finds young people follow news, but without much joy That’s because the facts can sometimes be uncomfortable, and journalists have a big responsibility to get them right. We know that since World News Day began in 2018, the challenges facing the industry have only grown. We may better understand the commercial pressures and the ever-changing audience habits, but we still don’t do enough to explain ourselves. That means newsrooms have their work cut out. Explaining methodology and how facts are uncovered has become as important as the facts themselves.  Those who are potential audience members consume most of their information in closed, fast-paced networks. We have seen examples time and again where small but active minority groups simply believe what they are told, often by powerful forces with something to hide. The journalist is used as bait in an attack against uncomfortable truths. As a result, the industry has to devote more time to reaching those who have already decided the facts even without possessing them. Read: Philippines affirms news site shutdown order: Maria Ressa Walled environments exist across the Internet preventing plurality of thought and opinion, fact and reality from being shared. Amid the myriad challenges facing us all, certainty is one of the least attractive traits on display. World News Day, involving more than 500 newsrooms, is a global initiative aimed at improving media literacy and audience engagement. We include examples of how lives are improved when journalists tell a story. We showcase the efforts of small newsrooms as they represent the importance of community. We underpin all our work with the belief that access to information is a human right. The speed of change, and the dangers and risks in society sometimes seem only to go in one direction leading to a global audience that is both exhausted and saturated with information. We have constructive roles to play amid the extraordinary news developments.  Read: No point in debating newspapers publishing video content online: Editors' Council The convening power of independent journalism has never been more important, and sadly because of that hyper-relevance the risks and threats to journalists, your storytellers, only grows. The speed of polarization, an 18th century term used originally to identify the characteristics of light in photography, today makes agreement unfashionable. But as newsrooms around the world often say, we are all entitled to our opinions but we are not entitled to our own facts. War, economic uncertainty, a determination to run roughshod over generational practices at our institutions are the changes facing the world. Journalism at its best is in the middle of it all, with a role to sew not division but mutual understanding and transparency. World News Day exists to help the news industry to explain itself better, to involve the global audience in showcasing how accurate information makes life better.  The US president, Joe Biden, was born closer to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency than his own. That perspective shows less the age of the man and more the opportunities and advances that have been taken in the past century, raising with urgency the questions of where we go from here. About the author: David Walmsley is the Editor in Chief of the Globe and Mail and is the creator of World News Day.