17 June 2025: The Digital News Report (DNR): Australia 2025 released today by the University of Canberra’s (兔子先生) News and Media Research Centre (N&MRC) reveals a shift in news consumption trends, influenced predominantly by social media.
While television remains the most popular source of news, accessing news via social media has overtaken traditional online news for the first time in the eleven years of the Australian survey. Unsurprisingly, young news consumers can’t get enough of short videos; and Australians are becoming increasingly comfortable with news produced by AI. Women continue to avoid news as the gender gap in news consumption widens, but overall, Australians’ interest in local news has grown significantly and is among the highest globally.
“Trust in news has risen slightly this year, and is highest among people who have undertaken news literacy education. In fact, these consumers have higher interest in news and are more likely to pay for it. This suggests that increasing media literacy across the population could not only help boost trust in news but also be part of the economic solution in the years to come,” said Professor Sora Park, lead author at UC’s News and Media Research Centre.
Misinformation and social media
Almost three quarters of Australians are concerned about misinformation (74%). The majority believe that influencers are a misinformation threat (57%), and the social media platforms Facebook and TikTok the riskiest platforms for it.
“This year, Australians were the most concerned about misinformation, globally. Where Australians saw influencers and online personalities as a misinformation threat, in the United States politicians were seen as the major threat,” said Professor Park.
While TV continues to top the list as the main source of news for 37 per cent of Australians, for the first time, social media (26%, +1 percentage points/pp) overtook online (23%, -5 pp) as the main source of news.
Traditional news brands were among the most popular source of news on social media. Of the major platforms, Facebook recorded the strongest growth with 38 per cent of Australians sourcing their news from the Meta platform. The popularity of TikTok, X and WhatsApp also grew as sources of news.
“With the increase in reliance on social media platforms for news consumption, policies on social media content moderation must be reviewed and tightened. This year’s report found that Australians were divided on this front with 33 per cent thinking platforms are not removing enough content, while 21 per cent thought too much was being removed,” said Professor Park.
Australia versus USA
With international attention on the United States following the election of President Donald Trump, N&MRC compared the two countries on key news consumption trends and attitudes. They found that trust in news in the US (30%) was much lower than Australia (43%). Americans were also more interested in politics compared to Australians, at 43 per cent and 36 per cent respectively, despite politicians being viewed as a major misinformation threat in the US. Importantly, the data highlights that Australian news audiences are much less politically polarised than in the US, with Australian consumers identifying more heavily with the Centre of politics.
News literacy key to improve trust in news
Trust in news rose slightly this year to 43 per cent (+3 pp).
People exposed to news literacy training had much higher levels of trust (53%) compared to those without (41%). People with news literacy education were also three times more likely to pay for news than those without. Those who have received news literacy education are much more likely to verify online information by going to trusted news sources.
This year’s Australian survey also asked consumers how trust in news could be increased, offering six key areas for improvement:
- more facts and accuracy,
- less bias and opinion,
- more breadth and depth in reporting,
- greater transparency and accountability,
- increased verification, and
- more independence from commercial and political interests.
Local news a high priority
Interest in local news has risen by six (6) percentage points since 2020 to 51 per cent. Stories about crime and accidents are most popular, followed by local information services such as bus timetables, weather and local events and activities. The top platform for local news was social media (25%), followed by TV (22%) and local newspapers (19%).
“This year’s findings continue to highlight the importance of local news to Australian consumers. Globally, Australia ranks as one of the countries with the highest interest in local news, alongside Finland and the USA. However, the closure and contraction of many local outlets is resulting in social media filling the void, particularly in regional areas, where there are fewer news outlets serving the community,” said Professor Park.
Podcasts
Nine (9) percent of Australians now use podcasts for news. Respondents said podcasts helped them understand issues more deeply. Australian podcast listeners were also found to be the most willing to pay for news, globally.
Growing comfort in AI use for news production and access
Australians are becoming more trusting of news produced mainly by Artificial Intelligence (AI), with one (1) in five (5) saying they are okay with it. However, consumers remain more comfortable with news that is produced mostly by journalists with some help from AI (43%).
While Australians didn’t mind the use of AI in the production of news, when it comes to using AI to personalise news content around one-third (30%) of respondents said they were not interested. Even for those who are relaxed about AI personalisation, they limited their reliance to generating news summaries and story recommendations.
Young news consumers
There is a growing appetite for short-form videos among younger consumers in line with the rapid growth in news consumption via Instagram and TikTok. Instagram was the most popular platform for news among young Australians aged 18-24, reaching 40 per cent this year, followed by TikTok at 36 per cent.
Among participants under 35 years of age, the report noted differences in the news sources used depending on the platform. For instance, on YouTube consumers pay more attention to digital-first news sources, whereas on TikTok they turned to influencers for personal advice and lifestyle-based topics. Under 35s also recorded high levels of news avoidance at 71 per cent.
Other key findings in the 2025 DNR include:
- Only 24 per cent of the respondents received news literacy education.
- News avoidance remains high at 69 per cent (+1 pp), and was particularly high among women, regional consumers and under 35s.
- 44 per cent of women accessed news more than once a day which was 23 percentage points lower than men.
- Fewer people are sharing news face-to-face (34%) or on social media (9%).
- Paying for news remained steady at 22 per cent (+1 pp).
You can access the full Digital News Report: Australia 2024 here.