Majority of surveyed Africans believe that digital news outlets are trustworthy, according to a report by the Reuters Institute.
According to Reuters Institute’s 2023 Digital News report, on average, 59% of surveyed Africans trust digital news outlets “most of the time.”
Kenya led the way in terms of trustworthy news outlets at 63%, with Nigeria and South Africa following suit at 57% each. Both countries ranked second and fourth respectively, out of 46 surveyed countries in the world.
88% of Kenyans consumed news via online mediums, slightly down 1% from last year’s figures. Tuko.co.ke led the way in terms of attracting traffic, bringing in 62 million visitors. Citizen TV and Daily Nation followed suit with 58 million and 46 million visitors respectively.
In Nigeria, where 93% of the surveyed population consumed news via online mediums, Legit.ng, Punch Online, and Pulse.ng led the way in terms of web traffic, attracting 46 million, 44 million, and 41 million visitors respectively.
South Africa, where 90% of news consumption was via digital means, led the way in terms of attracting web traffic, with News24, SABC News Online, and eNCA online garnering 70 million, 50 million, and 40 million visitors respectively. This is despite having a lower internet penetration than both Kenya and Nigeria.
The country also led the way in terms of media freedom, ranking 25th out of 180 countries according to another report by Reporters Without Borders referenced in the Reuters Institute report. Kenya, on the other hand, ranked 116th while Nigeria ranked 123rd.
This year’s Reuters Institute Digital News report covered 46 countries and polled 93,000 respondents via an online survey.
