The 2025 Digital News Report more positive than it would appear

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Perhaps predictably, coverage of the latest University of Canberra Digital News Report has painted a solely bleak picture of the Australian news industry. A closer look, however, reveals nuance and a lot to be positive about.

Social media might be an access point, but major news brands are still the main source of news

The report states that for the first time social media platforms (26%, +1) have overtaken online news (23%, -5) as a “source of news”. But it also confirms traditional news brands continue to be the most popular source of news on social media.

Let’s be clear, social media platforms don’t create news. The news consumed on social media platforms comes from actual news sources. More than half of all respondents pay attention to traditional news media sources and journalists on X (53%) and Facebook (52%) with slightly lower proportions on YouTube (43%), Instagram (46%), Snapchat (47%) and TikTok (45%).

The key takeaway, which has been long supported by ThinkNewsBrands own data, is that while social media platforms have increased as an “access point”, users are ultimately consuming content on major news publisher websites.