The annual Digital News Report Ireland, conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford and released on Monday by Coimisiún na Meán, also indicates a rise in the number of Irish news consumers paying for news content in 2024.

This trend is particularly notable among 18–24-year-olds, with a seven percentage point increase compared to the previous year.

The Irish section of the report, compiled by DCU’s Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society, shows that 33 percent of respondents now consider online outlets, excluding social media, their primary news source.

This is compared to television (31 percent), social media (21 percent), radio (12 percent), and newspapers (3 percent).

BreakingNews.ie remains a leading source of online news in Ireland, with 23 percent of respondents visiting the site weekly.

The study also highlights growing concerns about online misinformation, with 71 percent of people expressing worry about distinguishing real from fake content, up seven percentage points from 2023.

Additionally, 88 percent of respondents indicated they are ‘extremely’, ‘very’, or ‘somewhat’ interested in news. This is higher than in the UK (82 percent), the US (84 percent), and the European average (85 percent).

Overall trust in news has slightly decreased, but certain outlets like RTÉ and The Irish Times have seen an increase in trust levels.

Commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the study aims to understand news consumption across 47 markets.

In Ireland, 2,034 people were surveyed online using representative quotas for age, gender, region, and educational level, with data weighted to match census and industry standards.