Changing Media Changing Politics


Digital News Report researched and compiled an executive summary about current trends in communication and journalism. On page 10, they broke down a summary of key findings from their 2024 research. I will be discussing the first three bullet points. The first bullet point talked about the usage of a particular social media platform, facebook (Newman 2024). Individuals who do not live in Europe or the United States seem to have limited access to this platform. This could be for various reasons such as limited to no internet access, countries have put bans on the platform to stop political campaigns uprisings, people do not have the technology to access these platforms, and/or people are too busy to spend time on social media. This signals “Changing Media, Changing Politics” by showing that people seem to be less reliant on social media to obtain news or simply do not have access due to certain restrictions. Location plays a big part in facebook consumption numbers declining in the last year. Many global government systems are changing leading to change with the media. Some are allowing more media outlets to spread information, while others are putting more restrictions to avoid opposition.

The second bullet point talks about which social media platform is used most for news and information (Newman 2024). In early years Twitter (now X), was the place to get new details mainstream new outlets did not share or missed. In recent years, youtube has taken that spot. Why? Well other than the cooking and travel vlogs, news outlets are utilizing the platform to gain viewers. It can be said that not many young people watch television news nowadays. But they do spend most of their time watching youtube views. These news outlets have realized that if they type a captivating title and thumbnail, 9 times out of 10, a young person is going to watch it. They are appealing to the masses. X is now used for 10% of news media while youtube is used for 31% (Newman 2024). This is signaling the change in media change in politics within the global information system because political leaders and officials have to find ways to reach their target audience. They have to write scripts, hire actors and actresses, find a location or studio, and everything else with video directing to create short but informative videos/content to attract supporters. Essentially they have to learn the algorithm to attract any attention.

The third and last bullet point talks about video content and where it is viewed (Newman 2024). It is no argument that many politic based videos are either on instagram reels, youtube shorts, and tiktok. Everyday people are scrolling up and down, left and right watching videos. Short videos on these platforms generate 66% of consumer views (Newman 2024). Short, sweet, and straight to the point video content, is currently on the rise. Most people do not have the time to sit through a 30 minute information video unless it is training for a job. But a simple 30 second to 2 minute video, they are more likely to bookmark it for a later time. This signals changing media changing politics because people are not going on CNN or ABC News websites to read what is happening, they are watching short, recap videos to get their daily dose of news. Online platforms usage increased to 72% while new outlet websites declined to 21% (Newman 2024). Worldwide speaking, news outlets are realizing that people are not viewing their websites like they did before. So, they have to find new, creative ways to bring the news to the people.


Changing Media happens before changing politics. As we can tell by the summary findings, politics has to play catch-up to the media because of changing technology. Technology is the core of the change. Out with the old and in with the new.

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