Concerns about misinformation and disinformation in the news are on the rise, according to research published today.
The figures are contained in the annual Digital News Report Ireland.
The research showed that concern about misinformation and disinformation is growing.
Concern about what is real and what is fake on the internet is comparatively high in Ireland (at 64%), up 6 percentage points since last year.
This compares with 50% (up 2%) in the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, the level of concern is at 64% in the US (up 4%) and is highest in the UK at 69% (up 8%).
The research suggested this "across-the-board increase over the past year is perhaps connected to fears that news content - especially so-called 'deep fake' photos and videos - is being produced by AI technology".
Research for the report is undertaken by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and Irish participation is funded by Coimisiúin na Meán with analysis provided by researchers from DCU.
Meanwhile, young people's interest in news has seen a sharp decline in recent years, according to the research.
Only 28% of people aged 18-25 said they are very, or extremely interested in news.
In general, 52% of Irish people show a strong interest in news, down from a peak of 70% during the Covid 19 pandemic.
The survey found 52% of respondents said they were 'extremely’ or ‘very interested’ in news, down five percentage points on 2022. That figure peaked at 70% at the height of the Covid pandemic.
However, only 28% of people aged 18-24 said they were ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ interested in news, down from 53% in 2016. In contrast, 69% of people aged over 65 said they had a strong interest in news.
The report found 47% of respondents trusted most of the news most of the time, down five percentage points from last year, but this figure is still higher than in the UK, the US or Europe.
Irish people mainly get their news from television and online, followed by social media and radio. For 18-24 year olds however, social media is the most important source of news, followed by online.
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In 2023, RTÉ News retained its place as the most trusted news brand in Ireland at 71%, with the Irish Times and local radio both at 70%.
RTÉ News online was the most popular digital brand, with 24% of respondents saying they used the RTÉ News online service.
RTÉ television news was the most popular traditional brand, with RTÉ radio news in third place after Sky News.
WhatsApp remains the most popular social media app in Ireland, with Facebook in second place, and TikTok showed the highest increase this year. Snapchat and TikTok are reaching more than half of 18-24-year-olds.
Podcasts are also very popular in Ireland with 44% of those surveyed saying they had listened to a podcast in the previous month, compared to 34% elsewhere in Europe.
When asked if the Government should fund news, 44% of those surveyed said climate change and environmental news was worthy of extra government resources, and 33% said resources should be directed towards 'less well served' groups such as Travellers, the immigrant population and the disabled audience.
For those people who said they avoided certain types of news, top of the list was news about the war in Ukraine, followed by social justice news. Other topics that were avoided included news on health issues, including Covid-19, and climate change and environmental news.
Meanwhile, over half of digital news consumers said that publicly funded news services are ‘quite’ or ‘very’ important for society, although they believe they are more important for society than for themselves.
A quarter of those surveyed said they felt it was better to have a human editor or journalist select what they consumed, while 31% said it is better to see news selected by an algorithm based on their viewing history.
More than half of those surveyed, however, felt that personalised news might cause them to miss important stories.
Professor Colleen Murrell of DCU said that this year’s data shows that how people access and engage with news in Ireland is constantly evolving.
Broadcasting Commissioner with Coimisiún na Meán, Celene Craig, said that one of the standout findings from this year’s survey is the rise in concern among Irish respondents about what is real and fake on the internet.
She said Coimisiún na Meán will work in partnership with relevant areas of interest to minimise the effects of disinformation in Ireland and across Europe and will announce new funding schemes to support public interest journalism later this year.
