The media of the future will be more digital and will face economic difficulties, according to study

The annual Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for Journalism Studies reveals the coronavirus pandemic has caused a significant increase in news consumption, but the economic impact of the virus is forcing publishing companies to accelerate their passage to the digital world. In a recent article published on the Reuters agency site, in its Latin American edition, it details that the "confinements caused by the coronavirus fueled a global increase in the display of news through television and the Internet, although the concern due to disinformation, it remains high, with Facebook and WhatsApp as the main channels for the dissemination of so-called "false news".

According to the study, the outbreak is accelerating trends brought about by the technological revolution, including the rise of smartphones as a news consumer interface. "The main thing is that we see an accelerated movement towards digital media and media on mobile devices and various types of platforms," said the director of the Reuters Institute, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen.

The prospects for the news business remain bleak. Media outlets around the world are cutting staff to face a dramatic drop in advertising revenue.

However, there may be a ray of hope in the fact that more and more people are willing to pay for news on the internet, although that may also increase the inequality of information, since many cannot afford high-quality journalism.

The Reuters Institute for Journalism Studies is a research center at the University of Oxford that tracks trends in the media. The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Thomson Reuters, funds this Institute. ORIGINAL REPORT: