• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 10, 2024

Journalists and publishers are gloomy heading into 2024, facing a range of issues from sharp declines in referral traffic from social media sites to steadily declining print, according to Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions 2024, a study from Reuters Institute.    

Of the media professionals polled, only 47% are optimistic about the prospects for journalism this year, although a mere 12% express low confidence. 

There is one reason for cheer: closely fought elections in the U.S. and elsewhere could cause interest and consumption to spike, the study says. But this could further erode trust.  

Indeed, some readers may be facing news fatigue on certain stories — i.e., those from Gaza and Ukraine. Publishers plan to provide better explanation of complex stories (67%), more solutions-oriented or constructive approaches (44%) and more inspirational human stories (43%).

But only 21% are planning more positive news, and 18% more entertaining news.  

Meanwhile, 63% are concerned about a sharp decline in traffic from social media sites. Chartbeat data cited in the study shows that traffic from Facebook fell 48%, and from X by 27%.  

How are they dealing with this loss of referrals? The strategies include: 

• Investing more in direct channels—77% 
• Cutting costs—22%
• More on alternative platforms—20%
• Extra marketing spend—17%
• We don’t have a strategy for this—6%

One strategy is to focus more on WhatsApp (61% net score) and Instagram (39%) after Meta’s announcement that it was launching a feature called Whatsapp Channels. 

Publishers also plan to create more: 

• Video—64%
• Newsletters—52% 
• Podcasts—47% 

On the positive side, digital subscriptions are growing, although the revenue may not yet replace that of print. The respondents say their digital subs are:

• Up a lot—30% 
• Up a bit—43% 
• Stable—19% 
• Down a bit—6% 
• Down a lot—2% 

Of course, the elephant in the room is generative AI. Publishers consider this technology very important for: 

• Back-end automation (tagging, transcription, copy editing)—56%
• Distribution and recommendations—37%
• Content creation with human oversight—37% 
• Commercial uses (better propensity to pay models)—27% 
• Coding and product development—25%
• Newsgathering (help identifying stories or interrogate data)—22% 

Substantial percentages also deem these uses somewhat important.

Reuters Institute surveyed 314 media leaders in 56 countries.