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Journalism under Duress: Worlds of Journalism Study Report (Wave 3: 2021–2025)

Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Corinna Lauerer, Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova (eds.)

Munich: Ludwig-Maximilian Universität (LMU), WJS Center (2025), 371 pp.

"This report presents findings from the third wave of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS3), conducted between 2021 and 2025. In this iteration, we focused on journalists’ perceptions of risk and uncertainty in their profession and sought to identify key factors that shape how journalists navigate ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Top Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2025), 170 pp.

"• Engagement with traditional media sources such as TV, print, and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video platforms, and online aggregators grows. This is particularly the case in the United States where polling overlapped with the first few weeks of the new Trum ... p administration. Social media news use was sharply up (+6pp) but there was no ‘Trump bump’ for traditional sources. • Personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates. One-fifth (22%) of our United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok. Young influencers also play a significant role in many Asian countries, including Thailand. • News use across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%. • Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). Since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022 many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news. • Changing platform strategies mean that video continues to grow in importance as a source of news. Across all markets the proportion consuming social video has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025 and any video from 67% to 75%. In the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, and India more people now say they prefer to watch the news rather than read it, further encouraging the shift to personality-led news creators. • Our survey also shows the importance of news podcasting in reaching younger, better-educated audiences. The United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions. • TikTok is the fastest growing social and video network, adding a further 4pp across markets for news and reaching 49% of our online sample in Thailand (+10pp) and 40% in Malaysia (+9pp). But at the same time people in those markets see the network as one of the biggest threats when it comes to false or misleading information, along with Facebook. • Overall, over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the United States (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%). • When it comes to underlying sources of false or misleading information, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide (47%), along with national politicians (47%). Concern about influencers is highest in African countries such as Nigeria (58%) and Kenya (59%), while politicians are considered the biggest threat in the United States (57%), Spain (57%), and much of Eastern Europe." (Executive summary, page 10-11) more

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The Invisible Hand of Media Censorship in the Balkans: A Closer Look at Media Ownership in the Balkans and the European Media Freedom Act

Balkan Free Media Initiative (BFMI) (2024), 80 pp.

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Challenges and Opportunities for Journalism in the Bulgarian COVID-19 Communication Ecology

Lada Trifonova Price, Vesislava Antonova

Journalism Practice, volume 18, issue 1 (2024), pp. 119-136

"The coronavirus pandemic brought immense challenges to journalists worldwide, including new threats to media freedom, journalism safety and practice. The impact of the pandemic on journalism is yet to be fully understood and examined but this paper contributes to the field by focusing on the impact ... more

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Southern European press challenges in a time of crisis: A cross-national study of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Malta

Lada Trifonova Price, Marilyn Clark, Lambrini Papadopoulou, Theodora A. Maniou

Journalism, volume 25, issue 11 (2024), pp. 2420-2439

"The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for newsrooms across the world range from severe economic hardship to increased threats to press freedom. The “perfect storm” that engulfed the media and journalists globally has threatened and continues to challenge their existence, and the core of the ... more

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Commercial Television as a Blind Spot in Emerging Media Systems: Romania and Bulgaria’s Cases

Madalina Bãlãescu, Vyara Angelova, Romina Surugiu

Media and Communication, volume 12, issue 7765 (2024), 20 pp.

"This study explores TV in Romania and Bulgaria, both considered "emerging" media systems in post-communist studies (Sparks, 1995). It uses Hallin and Mancini's (2004) framework to analyze the central aspects regarding the configuration of commercial TV. The study offers an institutional perspective ... more

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Bulgarian Media Since 1989: From Instrumentalization to Capture

Ivo Indzhov

Central European Journal of Communication, volume 2, issue 36 (2024), pp. 185-203

"In the second decade of the 21st century, Bulgaria earned the unsavory reputation of having the least media freedom in the EU’s (Reporters Without Borders). This paper examines the current state of Bulgarian media based on two research concepts: for instrumentalization, respectively the capture o ... more

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Global Journalism in Comparative Perspective: Case Studies

Dhiman Chattopadhyay (ed.)

London; New York: Routledge (2024), xvii, 251 pp.

"This book explores how journalism is practiced around the world and how there are multiple factors at the structural and contextual level shaping journalism practice. Drawing on case studies of how conflicts, pandemics, political developments, or human rights violations are covered in an online-fir ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023
Top Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Kirsten Eddy, Craig T. Robertson, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2023), 158 pp.

"Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) now say they prefer to start their news journeys with a website or app – that’s down 10 percentage points since 2018. Publishers in a few smaller Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are ... showing a weaker connection with news brands’ own websites and apps than previous cohorts – preferring to access news via side-door routes such as social media, search, or mobile aggregators. • Facebook remains one of the most-used social networks overall, but its influence on journalism is declining as it shifts its focus away from news. It also faces new challenges from established networks such as YouTube and vibrant youth-focused networks such as TikTok. The Chinese-owned social network reaches 44% of 18–24s across markets and 20% for news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. • When it comes to news, audiences say they pay more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than journalists in networks like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. This contrasts sharply with Facebook and Twitter, where news media and journalists are still central to the conversation. • Much of the public is sceptical of the algorithms used to select what they see via search engines, social media, and other platforms. Less than a third (30%) say that having stories selected for me on the basis of previous consumption is a good way to get news, 6 percentage points lower than when we last asked the question in 2016. Despite this, on average, users still slightly prefer news selected this way to that chosen by editors or journalists (27%), suggesting that worries about algorithms are part of a wider concern about news and how it is selected. • Despite hopes that the internet could widen democratic debate, we find fewer people are now participating in online news than in the recent past. Aggregated across markets, only around a fifth (22%) are now active participators, with around half (47%) not participating in news at all. In the UK and United States, the proportion of active participators has fallen by more than 10 percentage points since 2016. Across countries we find that this group tends to be male, better educated, and more partisan in their political vie ws. • Trust in the news has fallen, across markets, by a further 2 percentage points in the last year, reversing in many countries the gains made at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. On average, four in ten of our total sample (40%) say they trust most news most of the time. Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust (69%), while Greece (19%) has the lowest after a year characterised by heated arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media." (Summary, page 10) more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024
Top Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2023), 167 pp.

"In many countries, especially outside Europe and the United States, we find a significant further decline in the use of Facebook for news and a growing reliance on a range of alternatives including private messaging apps and video networks. Facebook news consumption is down 4 percentage points, acr ... oss all countries, in the last year. • News use across online platforms is fragmenting, with six networks now reaching at least 10% of our respondents, compared with just two a decade ago. YouTube is used for news by almost a third (31%) of our global sample each week, WhatsApp by around a fifth (21%), while TikTok (13%) has overtaken Twitter (10%), now rebranded X, for the first time. • Linked to these shifts, video is becoming a more important source of online news, especially with younger groups. Short news videos are accessed by two-thirds (66%) of our sample each week, with longer formats attracting around half (51%). The main locus of news video consumption is online platforms (72%) rather than publisher websites (22%), increasing the challenges around monetisation and connection. • Although the platform mix is shifting, the majority continue to identify platforms including social media, search, or aggregators as their main gateway to online news. Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) identify news websites or apps as their main source of online news – that’s down 10 percentage points on 2018. Publishers in a few Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are showing a weaker connection with news brands than they did in the past. • Turning to the sources that people pay most attention to when it comes to news on various platforms, we find an increasing focus on partisan commentators, influencers, and young news creators, especially on YouTube and TikTok. But in social networks such as Facebook and X, traditional news brands and journalists still tend to play a prominent role. • Concern about what is real and what is fake on the internet when it comes to online news has risen by 3 percentage points in the last year with around six in ten (59%) saying they are concerned. The figure is considerably higher in South Africa (81%) and the United States (72%), both countries that have been holding elections this year. • Worries about how to distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy content in online platforms is highest for TikTok and X when compared with other online networks. Both platforms have hosted misinformation or conspiracies around stories such as the war in Gaza, and the Princess of Wales’s health, as well as so-called ‘deep fake’ pictures and videos." (Executive summary, page 10) more

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Free to Hate: How Media Liberalization Enabled Right-Wing Populism in Post-1989 Bulgaria

Martin Marinos

Champaign: University of Illinois Press (2023), 391 pp.

"Martin Marinos applies a critical political economy approach to place Bulgarian right-wing populism within the structural transformation of the country’s media institutions. As Marinos shows, media concentration under Western giants like Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and News Corporation have l ... more

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Dictatorship and Information: Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Communist Europe and China

Martin K. Dimitrov

New York: Oxford University Press (2023), xix, 470 pp.

"This study offers a systematic theory of the institutional solutions to the dictator’s dilemma, which arises from the incapacity to calibrate repression and concessions due to the lack of information about elite and popular discontent. Empirically, the book presents a detailed discussion of the t ... more

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Defunding Disinformation in the Balkans: How International Brands Support Russia’s Agenda

Brussels: Balkan Free Media Initiative (BFMI);CRTA (2023), 39 pp.

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Ich habe in Bulgarien viel Positives erlebt

Hendrik Sittig

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), Medienprogramm Südosteuropa (2023), 4 pp.

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Blurring the Truth: Disinformation in Southeast Europe
Quick Overview

Christopher Nehring, Patrick Gensing, Gordan Akrap (eds.)

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) (2023), iii, 281 pp.

"This is neither the first nor the last study of disinformation. Yet it differs significantly from others in many regards. Firstly, it is the first and only study summarizing the state of disinformation in Southeast Europe. While regional studies abound, none so far has looked at all countries of th ... more

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Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes
Top Insights

Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska, Jelena Kleut

Lausanne et al.: Peter Lang (2023), 290 pp.

"We selected ten post-communist countries for this research. Eight of them are located on the Balkan Peninsula, from a geographical point of view. We added Romania and Slovenia for historical reasons. The main aim of research is to provide a model of the media system in each of them. We are interest ... more

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Transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting

Geneva: ITU (2023), 239 pp.

"The purpose of this Report is to help the countries that are in the process of migrating from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting. The Report examines the reasons why this is happening and the technologies involved. It provides an overview of digital terrestrial sound and television broadc ... more

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Media Capture in Bulgaria: Hidden Alliances and Vested Interests

Vienna: International Press Institute (IPI) (2022), 30 pp.

"This report was commissioned to examine the situation of media capture in Bulgaria. It is part of a series of reports produced by the International Press Institute (IPI) looking into this phenomenon in Central Europe." (Page 4)

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022
Top Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Kirsten Eddy, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2022), 161 pp.

"Trust in the news has fallen in almost half the countries in our survey, and risen in just seven, partly reversing the gains made at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. On average, around four in ten of our total sample (42%) say they trust most news most of the time. Finland remains the countr ... more

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CANnual Report 2022: Trend Radar. The Latest in Advertising, Media and Consumer Behavior in Central and Eastern Europe

WeCAN Communications (2022), 125 pp.

"The CANnual Report 2022 follows a slightly different editorial concept than before. Since 2016, the publication featured one central topic which all creative agencies wrote about. This year however, weCAN experts write about twelve of the hottest topics in communication across the region. Five of t ... more

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 Top Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 Top Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024 Top Insights

Blurring the Truth: Disinformation in Southeast Europe Quick Overview

Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes Top Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022 Top Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Top Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023
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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024
Top Insights

Blurring the Truth: Disinformation in Southeast Europe
Quick Overview

Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes
Top Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022
Top Insights