The new news reality: Bigger reach, lower trust

The 15th edition of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, which covers 48 markets around the world, contains a troubling statistic: just 37% of global consumers trust most news most of the time. It’s the lowest level ever recorded since the organization began tracking the metric in 2015.

In the U.S., trust in news is even lower: a mere 25% of Americans have confidence in what they’re seeing and hearing about current events.

At the same time, more consumers are using social media and AI platforms to consume news, creating a growing gap between how people retrieve information and their level of confidence in the sources that deliver it.

It’s in this strange new media environment — low trust; abundant news — that PR pros must consider the payoffs between visibility and credibility. Reaching consumers is important, of course, but so is maintaining a robust reputation.

Social media is king

For the first time, according to the Reuters Institute’s 2026 report, social media and video networks have now overtaken TV, along with news websites and apps, to become the primary news source for consumers around the world.

While this has been the case in the U.S. since 2025, the divide has only increased in 2026: 56% of Americans now use social media as a news source each week, compared to 45% who say the same for TV and news websites. In total, 77% of global consumers now watch online news videos each week.

A big part of social media’s appeal comes down to two things: videos and creators.

TikTok and Instagram, in particular, have seen big gains between 2023 and 2026. News websites and apps, in contrast, have experienced declines.

Just over a quarter of people (27%) get some news from creators focused on talking about current events each week. Overall, consumers say creators are more relatable, more entertaining and easier to understand than traditional news organizations.

AI is set to become a major news source

Meanwhile, the percentage of global consumers relying on AI chatbots to keep up with the news each week has grown from 7% in 2025 to 10% in 2026.

“While this is still a fairly small minority of the population,” reads a line from the report, “the figure represents a substantial relative increase and indicates that AI is beginning to play a more meaningful role in news consumption alongside established pathways.”

The primary motivation for AI news-seekers involves the option to ask follow-up questions and receive more in-depth information, followed by speed and the ability to explain complicated topics.

Experts have noted brands should structure their GEO strategy around maintaining a full conversation with consumers, as they’re not likely to stop after a single prompt. That means thinking through the next logical questions users are likely to ask during a query to ensure they receive the right answers.

Use of social media is high, but trust is low

And this is where the challenge lies for PR pros. While consumers enjoy entertaining videos from influencers and the interactivity of AI tools, they don’t trust social media and chatbots to deliver the day’s news as much as they do traditional media outlets.

While trust in news overall stands at 37%, it’s even lower when it comes from social media (22%) and AI chatbots (20%). News from search engines does slightly better (32%), but it’s still below average.

“If the composition of news consumption continues to move in favour of discovery on social media, video networks, and AI as it has done in 2026, a decline in overall trust is, at least in part, an expected outcome because news on these platforms is less trusted than the legacy forms of news people are drifting away from,” reads a line from the report.

The report makes clear that while the worldwide drop in trust is related to wider anxieties beyond the news industry — such as skepticism about politicians and institutions — faith in the biggest news brands is doing better than trust in news in general.

As the researchers put it: “We can probably expect trust in news overall to fall further in future, but trust for many established news providers appears to be defying this trend.”

This means PR pros do have choices in terms of who they decide to partner with. It’s just becoming more a matter of choosing between larger audiences with unknown outcomes versus smaller audiences who trust what they’re reading.