Trust in news declines in Ireland while avoidance hits record high

A decline in trust in news and increasing news avoidance are trends identified in a major new report on the media landscape.

The annual Digital News Report Ireland 2026, published by Coimisiún na Meán, shows 42 per cent of Irish people trust most news most of the time, but the figure is down from 51 per cent last year.

Despite the decline in trust in the news, Irish people continue to trust major news brands. RTÉ News and local radio news emerge as the most trusted brands, as 71 per cent of people cited these as trustworthy sources of news.

Trust in news is lowest among the 18-24-year-old age demographic at 33 per cent, while it is highest among those aged over 65 at 52 per cent.

The report found trust in news in Ireland remains relatively high compared to the UK, where the figure is 31 per cent, as well as the US, where the figure stands at 26 per cent, and the European average of 36 per cent.

An increase in news avoidance has emerged as another key trend in this year’s report and is at its highest ever recorded rate. Almost half of people said they actively try to avoid news, up from 41 per cent last year.

Research for the report was undertaken by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, and analysis of the Irish data was provided by the DCU Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society.

Of those surveyed, RTE News Online had the highest weekly reach online with 37 per cent, followed by TheJournal.ie with 29 per cent, Irish Independent Online with 23 per cent and BreakingNews.ie with 22 per cent.

Separately, when considering news sources, 51 per cent said they can trust the news they personally consume, while 42 per cent trust “most news”, and 31 per cent trust news from search engines.

Sixteen per cent of people said they trust news from social media, while 14 per cent trust news from AI chatbots.

The report shows 22 per cent of people in Ireland are now paying for news, up from 9 per cent 10 years ago.

When asked why they paid for online news, 39 per cent said they do so to get useful content they cannot access any other way, while 38 per cent said it was to support journalism because they think it is important to society.

Seven in 10 people said they are concerned about what is real and what is fake online, which was an increase from 68 per cent last year.