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New Delhi: The 2026 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute finds news audiences around the world reacting with growing unease to the atmosphere of political, economic, and technological turbulence, and largely preferring social media and video networks than TV and owned news websites and apps as sources of news.
In India, the report observes a news cycle dominated by state elections, bilateral relations, and the contentious constitutional amendment on delimitation. The report finds that video-led social media platforms continue to attract both traditional players and new content creators.
The report’s survey sample is primarily composed of English speakers in a media landscape dominated largely by local language-medium news outlets. Findings for the report were gleaned through an online poll and the report cautions that they are not nationally representative and will tend to under-represent the continued importance of traditional media such as TV and print.
Despite the restricted sample size, a fact that stands out in the India chapter of the report is that 52% of those surveyed avoid the news.
India witnessed a 4 percentage point decrease in trust levels, from the earlier report, this one finds. Overall trust in news for India is 39%, placing it 18th among 48 markets in the survey. At the brand level, trust in legacy print publishers and public broadcasters remains high.
As the figures below show, YouTube and online media remain top picks for those surveyed as far as news is concerned.
Source: 2026 Digital News Report, Reuters Institute.
Source: 2026 Digital News Report, Reuters Institute.
Forty seven percent of those surveyed also note that they share news via social media, messaging, or email.
The introduction to the India section, by Anjana Krishnan, who is research associate at the Asian College of Journalism, notes how video-based social media platforms support diverse actors – news organisations, independent journalists, and news creators – making them a popular source of news. In India, around 58% of respondents rely on YouTube for news, Krishnan notes.
There is also a role played by AI. In a move to tap into their popularity and reach, the Indian government announced collaborations with content creators for its broadcast arms – DD News and Akashvani (AIR). The report notes how the government also plans to train 15,000 creators and media professionals on AI through partnerships with Google and YouTube.
While some newsrooms have experimented with AI anchors and AI clones, AI integration is, however, uneven across newsrooms due to a lack of resources, knowledge, or genuine concerns around the dilution of editorial safeguards and trust in news.
The report also makes mention of the Indian government’s slew of amendments to the IT Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, observing how they include provisions to oversee content put up by creators, who are not publishers but comment on news and current affairs on social media platforms.
This has led to concerns on the dilution of procedural safeguards around the removal of content and in the protection of free speech. “Some of these include a reduced time limit for platforms to remove content, exercising restraint before publishing content that may
violate the law, overlooking benign or creative purposes of AI by way of a broad definition for SGI, and overreach of executive powers to take down content. Intermediaries and platforms risk losing their safe-harbour provisions if they fail to comply with the takedown orders,” the report says.
Noting India’s 157 rank in the RSF’s press freedom index, the report concludes that the press continues to face legal, political, and economic challenges in one of the most diverse media markets in the world.
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