How Do Canadians Get Their News?

Few industries have been changed as deeply by the advent of the internet as journalism, and those changes are reflected in our experience as news consumers. Where news consumers once relied on a limited number of outlets that each provided a specialized selection of news items – different papers or newscasts for local and national news, for example, or radio for traffic and weather – we now have access to an array of sources that is at once overwhelming and empowering. In particular, the ability to share links to news stories through social media means that we rely less on news outlets to curate content and more on filters that we created either knowingly (by Liking or following news outlets, individual reporters or others who find and share news) or unknowingly (through the algorithms that social networks and search engines use to track which items we’ve responded to most strongly). As a result, “we are moving toward a world of passive news reception where the news and information we consume is determined more by what others in our networks share and the decisions we have made to curate our own newsfeeds than by editorial decisions in newspaper or broadcast TV newsrooms.”[2]

TV remains the most popular source of news for Canadians overall, with just over half (56%) getting news there. Websites (42%) and radio (41%) are more or less tied for second place; more than a third (37%) turn to search engines for news and just under a quarter (23%) rely on YouTube. All other sources – including, Instagram, TikTok and print newspapers or magazines – rank at 20% or less. (More people got news from TV or radio in 2014 than in 2019.)[3]

Young Canadians, however, are substantially less likely to get their news from TV (23%), online newspapers (21%), radio (15%) or print news (7%). Instead, 57% get news from social media.[4]  One result of this is that there is less of an assumption that the news you are receiving has been fact-checked, or that it comes from an objective source: half of Canadians turn to national media sources when they’re looking for information, compared to just a third who turn to social media.[5] Traditional media, especially long-standing sources such as the CBC, CTV and Global News, remain highly trusted news sources.[6] Trust in traditional news sources has declined significantly over time, both in Canada and around the world. Some researchers have suggested that this decline has its roots not just in the spread of news through social media but also in changes in the news industry going back to the 1990s:

As the 24-hour news cycle forces media organizations to fill more time with content, they are forced to shift away from reporting strictly the facts (of which there are only so many) to providing commentary, increasing the volume of opinion over that of fact and blurring the distinction between the two. Furthermore, analysis of the media market suggests that, for the sake of profits, media organizations have an incentive to cater their coverage to audience biases, essentially providing the types of news stories that people want and agree with, rather than focusing on providing high-quality and objective news coverage.[7]

A further complication is that the social networks most popular with youth deliver content mostly through algorithmically sorted feeds such as YouTube’s Up Next bar and TikTok’s For You page. These feeds often do not deliver news content: one study found that out of more than 6000 videos recommended by TikTok, only six could be classified as news. Even efforts to influence the famously responsive algorithm by following four professional news organizations raised the number of the total recommended.[8]

 As well, some popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, no longer allow links from legitimate news outlets to be shared. This has led to a significant decline in traffic for news outlets, and in particular local news.[9] The decline of local news,[10] along with the value placed on it – almost three-quarters of Canadians are worried about the disappearance of local news outlets[11] - explains the rise of so-called “pink slime” outlets, which mimic real local newspapers and are seen as more credible than similar sources as a result.[12] Some of these sources are operated by corporations such as the American oil company Chevron - whose outlet the Richmond Standard originally did not include any disclaimer about its ownership[13] - while others promote particular political viewpoints,[14] aggregate clickbait news stories to earn ad revenue,[15] or are simply run by individuals with an axe to grind.[16]

Just one in six Canadians paid for online news in 2023, though this is a rise of more than five percentage points since 2019.[17] It could be argued that we get the news we deserve. As Madelaine Drohan puts it, “the financial constraints on media organizations have had a negative impact on working conditions for journalists… The inevitable result is poorer journalism, fewer voices contributing to the public debate and a loss of loyal readers, viewers and listeners.”[18]

Nevertheless, recent research has found that people who follow news on social media know more about current events, are better at telling the difference between true and false news stories and have higher trust in news.[19] What we need, therefore, is to become better able to identify which news sources are reliable and to at reading those sources critically.

[1] Thom, Jessica. “Believing the News: Exploring How Young Canadians Make Decisions About Their News Consumption.” (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4269.

[2] Blevis, Mark and David Coletto. Matters of Opinion 2017: 8 Things We Learned About Politics, the News, and the Internet. February 7 2017.

[3] Lockhart, A., Laghaei, M & Andrey S. (2024) Survey of Online Harms in Canada 2024. The Dais. 

[4] (2024) Trust in Media: How Canadians feel about news outlets. Pollara Strategic Insights.

[5] (2024) 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer: Canada Report. <https://www.edelman.com/trust/2024/trust-barometer>

[6] (2024) Trust in Media: How Canadians feel about news outlets. Pollara Strategic Insights.

[7] Kavanagh, Janet and Michael D. Rich. “Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life.” RAND Corporation, 2018.

[8] Hagar, N., & Diakopoulos, N. (2023). Algorithmic indifference: The dearth of news recommendations on TikTok. New Media & Society, 14614448231192964.

[9] Parker, S., Park, S., Pehlivan, Z., Abrahams, A., Desblancs, M., Owen, T., ... & Bridgman, A. (2024). When journalism is turned off: Preliminary findings on the effects of Meta’s news ban in Canada.

[10] MacDonald, M. (2024) Sale of Atlantic Canada's biggest newspaper chain could reduce local content: expert. The Canadian Press.

[11] (2024) Trust in Media: How Canadians feel about news outlets. Pollara Strategic Insights.

[12] Darr, J. P. (2023). How Sticky Is Pink Slime? Assessing the Credibility of Deceptive Local Media. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 707(1), 109-124.

[13] Taft, M. (2022) Chevron Jumps Into Texas News Desert With Stories About Puppies Football and Oil. Gizmodo.

[14] Fischer, S. (2024) Dark money news outlets outpacing local daily newspapers. Axios. <https://www.axios.com/2024/06/11/partisan-news-websites-dark-money>

[15] Knibbs, K. (2024) How a Small Iowa Newspaper’s Website Became an AI-Generated Clickbait Factory. Wired.

[16] Moore, R., Dahlke, R., Bengani, P., & Hancock, J. (2023). The Consumption of Pink Slime Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why?.

[17] Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024: Canada. <https://www.cem.ulaval.ca/publications/dnr-2024-canada-eng/>

[18] Drohan, Madelaine. “Does Serious Journalism Have a Future in Canada?” Public Policy Forum, 2016.

[19] Altay., S., Hose E. & Wojcieszak M. (2024) News on Social Media Boosts Knowledge, Belief Accuracy, and Trust. Preprint.