The state of Philippine news: Trust falls amid changing media habits

First of three parts

Over the past several years, Filipinos are increasingly getting their news from social media feeds and video platforms instead of going directly to news websites, picking up newspapers or tuning in to broadcasts, reflecting a broader shift in how people access information.

The change has widened the channels through which people encounter news, but it has also coincided with a decline in public trust and interest.

Trust in news in the Philippines plunged by 10 percentage points in 2026, the steepest decline among 48 markets surveyed, as fewer Filipinos expressed strong interest in news and more turned to social media and video platforms for updates, according to the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2026.

Only 28% of Filipino respondents said they trusted most news most of the time, down from 38% in 2025. The proportion who were extremely or very interested in news also fell, from 49% to 43%, while those who often or sometimes actively avoided it increased from 48% to 51%.

At the same time, social media and video networks became the most widely used sources of news in the country. Seventy percent of respondents said they used these platforms for news in the week before the survey, up from 66% in 2025. Weekly use of news websites and apps, by contrast, fell from 50% to 42%.

Yet concern about misinformation remained high, with 66% of respondents saying they were worried about distinguishing real information from fake content online.

The findings document a changing relationship between Filipinos and the news they consume: Confidence in news overall has fallen, fewer respondents report a strong interest in following current events, and the platforms through which they encounter journalism have become increasingly important.

These trends are unfolding alongside persistent concerns about press freedom and the sustainability of news organizations.

As INQUIRER.net marks its 29th anniversary this year, this three-part series, The State of Philippine News, examines the changes documented by the Reuters Institute and how INQUIRER.net is responding to the challenges facing digital journalism.

This first installment examines the report’s Philippine findings on audience trust, changing news habits, social media, creators and artificial intelligence, as well as the wider conditions affecting journalism in the country.

Released June 16, the 2026 Digital News Report is the 15th edition of the Reuters Institute’s annual study of news consumption and public attitudes toward journalism. It is based on an online YouGov survey of more than 97,000 adults across 48 markets, including 2,021 respondents in the Philippines.

Trust and interest decline

The latest figures reversed the gains in overall trust recorded in the Philippines in preceding years. In 2020, 27% of respondents said they trusted most news most of the time. The figure rose to 38% in 2025 before falling to 28% in 2026, leaving the country 9 percentage points below the global average of 37%.

No other market covered by the report recorded a steeper year-over-year decline. Ireland followed with a 9-percentage-point drop, while Thailand, Peru and Poland each registered declines of 8 percentage points.

Trust in the news respondents personally used also fell. Only 33% said they trusted the news they consumed, down 6 percentage points from the previous year.

The decline in overall trust, however, did not correspond to an equally sharp drop in trust in individual news organizations. In the Philippine profile for the report, University of the Philippines Diliman associate professor Yvonne Chua noted:

“Overall trust in news fell by 10 [percentage points] this year, even as trust in major brands held steady.”

Among respondents familiar with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 61% rated news from the brand within the report’s trust category. This was the second-highest trust score among the listed brands, after GMA Network’s 66%. ABS-CBN and DZMM Radyo Patrol/DZMM TeleRadyo each recorded 60%.

Manila Bulletin and The Philippine Star each recorded 59%, while Rappler received 46%.

Differences in trust were also evident across socioeconomic groups. Only 23% of respondents from lower-income households said they trusted most news most of the time, compared with 43% among those from higher-income households. Among respondents with lower levels of education, trust stood at 21%, compared with 32% among university graduates.

Concern about misinformation remained widespread. Sixty-six percent of Filipino respondents said they were concerned about what was real and fake online, just 1 percentage point below the 67% recorded in 2025.

The findings, however, do not establish a single explanation for the decline in trust. Jim Egan, senior research associate at the Reuters Institute, cautioned against assuming that news organizations are entirely responsible for, or able to control, the forces affecting news consumption.

“In countries with some of the biggest drops in trust such as the Philippines, Thailand, Peru, and Poland, recent events point to a likely sense of deterioration in the broader information environment,” he said.

“Political instability, divisive elections, and a noisier and more fragmented information environment seem to be shared characteristics of markets where trust in news has fallen most. Some of the reductions are almost certainly a consequence of direct attacks on news outlets and individual journalists, with a cumulative effect of undermining confidence in journalism overall,” Egan explained.

For the Philippines, Chua explained that the report documents the decline in trust alongside political polarization, disinformation and continuing press freedom concerns. The survey, however, does not measure how much each of these factors contributed to the fall in public confidence.

Interest in news has also continued to decline. The proportion of respondents who described themselves as extremely or very interested in news fell to 43% in 2026, from 49% in 2025 and 69% in 2020.

The composition of the audience changed as well. The share classified as highly engaged news lovers fell from 22% in 2025 to 19% in 2026, while casual or passive news users increased from 26% to 32%.

The difference was particularly apparent among younger respondents: 42% of Filipinos ages 18 to 24 were classified as casual or passive news users, compared with 20% of those ages 55 and older.

How frequently respondents accessed news also declined. The proportion who said they checked news several times a day fell from 50% in 2025 to 45% in 2026, down from 63% in 2020. Those who accessed news at least daily declined to 70%, from 75% the preceding year and 86% in 2020.

Meanwhile, 51% said they often or sometimes actively avoided news, up from 48% in 2025. The proportion was higher among respondents from lower-income households, at 55%, than among those from higher-income households, at 42%.

Egan said news organizations compete for the time people spend on their smartphones, where a constant stream of updates can create different experiences for different audiences.

As he wrote, “For some, this means new opportunities to stay close to news stories as they unfold; for others, it risks creating a sense of overload.”

News shifts to platforms

The decline in interest and trust coincides with a longer-term change in where Filipinos encounter news.

Social media and video networks were the only major weekly news source to register an increase in the Philippines between 2025 and 2026. Their use rose from 66% to 70%, while weekly access to news websites and apps fell from 50% to 42%.

Television use for news declined from 46% to 42%. Radio fell from 17% to 14%, while print dropped from 13% to 10%.

The longer-term figures show a similar pattern. In 2020, 60% of respondents used news websites and apps weekly, 66% used television, 25% used radio and 22% used print. By 2026, those figures had fallen to 42%, 42%, 14% and 10%, respectively.

“Social media remain the dominant source of news in the Philippines, while television and print continue their long-term decline and online news use has plateaued,” Chua wrote, summarizing the trend.

The distinction between encountering news online and accessing it directly is important. The figures show that more respondents reported using social media and video networks for news than visiting news organizations’ own websites and apps.

Established outlets continue to publish online, but audiences increasingly encounter their reporting through platforms that also carry commentary, political content, entertainment and material from individual creators.

Facebook reached 72% of respondents for news-related activities during the week before the survey, according to the Reuters Institute’s country profile. YouTube followed at 48%, while Facebook Messenger and TikTok each recorded 33%. Instagram reached 15% and X 9%.

These figures measure the use of individual networks for finding, reading, watching, sharing or discussing news and are distinct from the overall proportion using social media and video networks as a news source.

Egan described the broader international trend as a gradual movement toward third-party platforms rather than an abrupt break with established news sources.

“It is better to think of this more as a drift rather than a shift, but it is nevertheless an important moment,” he said.

People who use social media and video networks may still be consuming reporting produced by established media organizations. The difference is that they encounter it through feeds and video platforms instead of necessarily visiting a publisher’s website or app.

The report’s online brand figures also provide a specific measure of how the Philippine Daily Inquirer reaches digital audiences. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they used Philippine Daily Inquirer online, INQUIRER.net, for news in the week before the survey, making it the third-most-used online news brand among those listed in the report.

GMA News online led at 49%, followed by ABS-CBN News online at 43%. Meanwhile, INQUIRER.net’s online reach was higher than Rappler’s 24%, The Philippine Star online’s 20% and Manila Bulletin online’s 16%.

The report’s separate trust measure adds another dimension to the Inquirer’s results. While 29% of respondents reported using Philippine Daily Inquirer online, INQUIRER.net, for news weekly, 61% of those familiar with the broader Philippine Daily Inquirer brand rated its news within the report’s trust category.

The change in online news consumption is especially visible in video. Chua’s analysis of the report published in VERA Files showed that the proportion of Filipino respondents who watched news videos on Facebook rose from 58% in 2025 to 66% in 2026. On TikTok, it increased from 30% to 36%.

Since 2020, the share who watched news videos on Facebook had risen from 54% to 66%, while the proportion who watched news videos on a news website or app fell from 39% to 21%.

Short videos were widely consumed across platforms. Among users of each network, 80% of TikTok users, 78% of Facebook users, 81% of Instagram users and 83% of X users watched shorter videos. YouTube was also used for longer news content: 52% watched longer videos there, compared with 58% who consumed shorter clips.

The report’s global findings point to a similar change in distribution. Seventy-seven percent of respondents worldwide watched online news video weekly, and in 45 of the 48 markets surveyed, more people watched news video online than watched broadcast television news.

Egan described the change as a second wave of platform growth, writing: “The first wave of social media growth hit newspapers hardest. Now the second wave is affecting news organizations’ TV and video interests.”

Television sets themselves are also being used differently. Chua’s country profile reported that 53% of Filipino respondents accessed news through smart TVs, reflecting the role of connected television services alongside conventional broadcasting.

The survey also distinguished between respondents who continued to use traditional media regularly, those who had previously used them but no longer did, and those who had never established regular habits of use.

Among Filipino respondents, 42% had used television for news in the week before the survey, while 32% said they previously used it regularly but no longer did. Fourteen percent still used radio weekly for news, while 32% were lapsed users.

For newspapers, only 8% were current weekly users and 27% were lapsed users; half said they had never used newspapers regularly.

Television had the highest adoption rate among traditional media, at 75%, and a retention rate of 57%. Radio’s adoption and retention rates were 46% and 29%, respectively, while newspapers recorded 36% adoption and 24% retention.

However, while the figures document the weakening of traditional news habits alongside growing use of social and video platforms, they do not establish that respondents who stopped using one medium necessarily transferred their news consumption to another.

Creators and AI grow

Social media and video platforms have also expanded the range of people from whom Filipinos obtain information.

Two-thirds of Filipino respondents consumed content from creators or influencers during the week before the survey. Thirty-six percent accessed content from creators whose main focus was news, while 46% received content from creators who primarily covered other subjects but occasionally discussed current events.

Chua’s country profile noted that respondents did not always draw a clear distinction between professional journalists and social-first personalities.

“Survey responses reveal that Filipinos cast a wide net when defining ‘creators’ and ‘influencers,’ often blurring the distinction between professional journalists and social-first personalities,” she wrote in VERA Files.

Some identified established news figures as news-focused creators, while others included personalities from entertainment, lifestyle, comedy and finance who sometimes discussed current affairs, making the blurring “even more apparent.”

“The overlap suggests that when consuming news online, audiences no longer draw a sharp line between traditional journalists, public affairs hosts and digital commentators,” Chua said.

Use of creator content was higher among younger respondents. Seventy-one percent of Filipinos aged 18 to 24 consumed news from creators or influencers, compared with 56% of those aged 55 and older. Younger respondents were also more likely to follow creators who mainly covered non-news topics but occasionally discussed current events, at 52%, compared with 37% among the older group.

Respondents described creators as entertaining, relatable, easy to understand and up to date compared with traditional news brands. Their assessments of trustworthiness and impartiality, however, were divided: 22% said creators were more trustworthy, while 21% considered them less trustworthy. On impartiality, 19% said creators were less impartial, compared with 14% who considered them more impartial.

Among respondents who followed news-focused creators, half said those creators met most of their information needs. Only one in eight said they met all their news needs.

The global report similarly found that many people who consume news from creators continue to use traditional media. As Egan wrote, “Most people who get news from creators are using them alongside traditional media—not instead of it.”

In the Philippines, Chua noted that many popular journalist-creators remained affiliated with established media organizations, even as their content often focused on softer or personality-driven subjects.

Artificial intelligence has also entered the ways Filipinos seek and process news, although its use remains much lower than that of social media and video networks.

Nine percent of Filipino respondents said they used AI chatbots for news weekly, unchanged from the previous year and close to the global figure of 10%. Usage was higher among respondents aged 18 to 24, at 11%, than among those aged 55 and older, at 3%.

Among Filipino respondents who used generative AI for news weekly, 52% asked chatbots to summarize information, 48% posed follow-up questions, 43% sought the latest news, 39% asked the tools to find or assess a source, and 36% used them to simplify stories.

The Philippine profile also documented news organizations’ experiments with AI. Fact-checking organization VERA Files launched SEEK, an AI tool trained on its fact-checking archive, while regional outlet Palawan News began using generative tools to produce daily news videos with limited staff.

Chua likewise noted that some organizations had begun publishing AI policies, although “industry standards are still uneven.”

The figures show AI being used both to access information and to support newsroom production. But weekly use of chatbots for news in the Philippines remained at 9%, compared with 70% for social media and video networks as a source of news.

Press freedom concerns

Changes in news consumption are taking place alongside debates over how to address disinformation, protect press freedom and sustain journalism.

“Efforts to regulate online disinformation have intensified in the Philippines, with lawmakers proposing new penalties and authorities launching initiatives with major news organisations,” Chua stressed in the report’s country profile for the Philippines.

The profile reported that lawmakers in the 20th Congress had proposed criminal penalties, regulatory oversight and takedown mechanisms for allegedly false or misleading online content. At the time covered by the report, the proposed measures had not yet been implemented.

“Although not yet implemented, this package of bills would allow authorities to order the removal of disinformation and impose fines or prison terms on publishers, platforms, or individuals who fail to comply. Some proposals include safeguards for legitimate journalism,” Chua wrote.

“However, a number of proposals look set to treat journalists as aggravating offenders, triggering maximum penalties if they are found liable for spreading disinformation,” she added.

READ: Groups call out anti-disinfo bills giving gov’t power to take down social media posts

The profile relayed warnings from press freedom advocates that “vague definitions and broad takedown powers could expand state authority over freedom of speech.”

The government had also launched initiatives to counter false information. In March, the Presidential Communications Office introduced Oplan Kontra Fake News, bringing together major newspapers to counter false narratives. It later established an Anti-Fake-News Desk and a reporting platform through which the public could flag suspicious content for assessment and possible referral to government agencies.

By May, the PCO said it had referred several cases to the Department of Justice after the arrest of a former broadcaster in a cyberlibel case involving allegedly fabricated medical records of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The report also documented instances in which news organizations and press freedom advocates had challenged restrictions through legal remedies. In November 2025, a local court voided a 2022 National Telecommunications Commission order blocking alternative news site Bulatlat and 25 other websites.

An anti-disinformation group also obtained identifying information from Meta linked to accounts involved in the red-tagging of a Mindanao journalist through arbitration facilitated by the National Privacy Commission.

Concerns about journalists’ safety persisted. Four radio broadcasters were killed after the May 2025 midterm elections, bringing to 10 the number of journalists killed under the Marcos administration, according to Chua.

In January 2026, community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio was convicted of financing terrorism after nearly six years in detention. The profile noted that she had become a global press freedom figure.

The Philippines ranked 114th out of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, with a score of 46.79, as cited in the Reuters Institute’s country profile.

Impartiality and news payments

The report also examined audiences’ expectations of journalism. In the Philippines, 30% of respondents said they preferred news sources that shared their views, while an equal proportion preferred sources that challenged them. Only 23% preferred sources without a particular point of view.

Asked what kind of news other people in society should receive, 27% of Filipino respondents favored sources that shared their perspective, 29% preferred sources that challenged prevailing views and 28% chose sources without a particular point of view.

These results differed from the global findings, where 45% preferred news that did not take sides and 46% said consuming such news was best for others in society.

Egan distinguished between the principles people expect journalism to uphold and their assessment of its actual coverage: “Support for the way news should be is not the same as satisfaction with the way news is.”

Filipino respondents gave mixed assessments of coverage of major international issues. For every issue tested, the largest share rated media coverage neither good nor bad.

Coverage of migration and immigration received the strongest net rating, while assessments of reporting on inflation and the cost of living were evenly balanced. Coverage of the conflict in the Middle East received slightly negative ratings, while reporting on the war in Ukraine received the weakest marks.

The financial sustainability of news organizations is another concern. In the Philippines, 13% of respondents said they paid for online news, down 2 percentage points from the previous year.

Across the 20 markets in which the Reuters Institute tracked payment for online news, the proportion who paid remained at 17%. Egan noted that reader revenue could become harder to grow as fewer people arrive at publishers’ websites and apps, where subscriptions and other direct payment arrangements are commonly offered.

The global report also found that people pay for news for different reasons. Eighty-one percent of those who paid for news cited direct benefits from the content they wanted to access as at least part of their motivation. Nearly half, or 46%, also cited values-based reasons, such as supporting journalism because of its importance to society.

While the Philippine figures do not establish why people choose to pay — or not pay — for online news, they do show that the proportion paying for news has declined as the share accessing news directly through websites and apps has fallen.

Newsrooms adapt

The Philippine profile documented several responses from media organizations to changing distribution habits.

ABS-CBN, which has operated without a broadcast franchise since 2020, continued distributing content through digital platforms and partnerships with other networks. During the period covered by the report, it relaunched its streaming service iWant, which carries news programming such as ANC and DZMM TeleRadyo.

The network also revived DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 through a joint venture with Prime Media. The station resumed 24-hour programming and brought back veteran broadcasters. Its offline reach rose to 15% of Filipinos, according to the report, although this remained below the 20% it reached in 2020 before the loss of its franchise.

Digital-native outlet Bilyonaryo expanded into broadcast distribution through its Bilyonaryo News Channel, which reached audiences via cable and smart TV services, including Samsung TV Plus and TCLtv+, and entered the North American market. Included in the Digital News Report for the first time, Bilyonaryo recorded 15% online reach and 8% offline reach.

Other initiatives have focused on supporting local journalism through collaboration. The Philippine Press Institute’s News Commons, which aggregates content from member newspapers, began distributing advertising revenue to participating community publications in mid-2025. PPI also partnered with Rappler and two community outlets to create public chat rooms for shared storytelling and audience engagement.

What the findings mean

The latest Digital News Report findings document a Philippine news environment in which overall trust and interest have declined, more people report avoiding news, and social media and video platforms have become the dominant route to news.

Creators and AI tools have expanded the ways audiences encounter and process information, while concerns about misinformation, press freedom and the sustainability of journalism persist.

“Our findings may invite questions about how far news organisations are either to blame for or in control of the key trends,” Egan said. “It is perhaps more constructive to acknowledge the anxieties and concerns expressed by audiences and to focus on what journalism can do to help people interpret what is happening and its relevance to their daily lives.”

For INQUIRER.net, the report offers distinct measures of its place in this changing environment: 29% weekly online reach and a 61% trust score for the broader Philippine Daily Inquirer brand among respondents familiar with it.

In the second installment of this three-part anniversary series, interviews with media and journalism experts will take a deeper look at the report’s findings, examining the factors shaping Filipinos’ changing news habits and the implications for public trust, digital journalism and the Philippine media industry. /dm