The report cautions newsrooms to tread carefully, given concerns about how publishers experimenting with AI may impact public trust in news.
The report cautions newsrooms to tread carefully, given concerns about how publishers experimenting with AI may impact public trust in news. On the topic of news avoidance, it found that around 39 per cent of those surveyed, up 10 percentage points from 2019, said they sometimes or often selectively avoid the news, as it is not only “depressing” but also “relentless”. This is also the highest level of news avoidance recorded since the report was first published in 2012.
A further challenge is that news use across online platforms is fragmenting, buoyed by the strong shift towards video-based networks such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, all of which have grown in importance for news since the Covid-19 pandemic drove new habits. In Singapore, mainstream outlets remained the most trusted news brands. Trust in the news increased to 47 per cent in 2024, up from 45 per cent in 2023, with The Straits Times and CNA being the most trusted by audiences.
Referencing ongoing studies, Professor Edson C. Tandoc Jr, who is co-author of the Digital News Report’s country page on Singapore, noted that readers are looking for an institutional source, and trust in legacy media is high.