The annual Digital News Report Ireland 2025, published today by Coimisiún na Meán, shows big appetite for news among Irish audiences, well above the EU and UK average.
A majority of Irish people are either extremely or very interested in news. That’s according to the annual Digital News Report Ireland 2025, published today by Coimisiún na Meán. In its eleventh year, research for the Digital News Report is undertaken by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, with the Irish analysis being provided by the DCU Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society (FuJo).
Most people in Ireland (56pc) across all age groups are interested in news, the highest level of interest in news since 2022, up 3 points from last year, but down from a high of 70pc in 2021, during the Covid pandemic. It puts Irish audiences well ahead of their UK counterparts (39pc) and indeed the EU average of 45pc.
Local radio news (72pc) and local newspapers (71pc) emerged as among the most trusted brands for Irish audiences.
’Local media enjoy strong public trust, an indication of their deep roots in Irish life,” said Dr. Eileen Culloty, Deputy Director of the DCU Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society (FuJo).
“But trust alone doesn’t pay salaries or sustain newsrooms. The big challenge is to convert trust into viable careers in local journalism so that local media can continue informing communities.”
Interest in news in Ireland remains strong compared to other countries, with 22pc of Irish people saying they are ‘extremely interested’ in news, 34pc saying they are ‘very interested’ and 33pc saying they are ‘somewhat interested’. A mere 3pc say they are ‘not at all interested’ in news.
‘’Whether watching, listening, streaming or reading, the Digital News Report shows that most Irish people can’t get enough of news,” said Rónán Ó Domhnaill, Media Development Commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s commission for regulating broadcasters, on-demand services and online media, and supporting media development.
Particularly notable is that Irish audiences trust news more when compared to other countries. When asked if they trust the news most of the time, 50pc ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’, compared to 35pc in the UK, 30pc in the US and 39pc in Europe.
When it comes to platforms, when asked which they have used in the last week as a source of news, 58pc of Irish respondents said television, with the same percentage (58pc) citing online media (excluding social media and blogs). Some 47pc say they have used social media as a source of news in the last week, with 36pc citing radio, 22pc saying printed newspapers, and 12pc saying podcasts, higher than in the UK (7pc) and the European average (9pc) but lower than the US (15pc) – 5pc cited AI chatbots.
While still low, there was some growth in those willing to pay for online news. The report shows that 20pc of people in Ireland are now paying for news, up from 7pc in 2015 and a 3-point increase from last year. Radio remains strong in Ireland with 11pc of respondents say they use radio as their primary source of news, significantly higher than the UK (8pc), US (3pc) or Europe (7pc).
There was an increase in the comfort level among respondents with artificial intelligence. Last year, those ‘very’ and ‘somewhat’ comfortable with news “mainly produced by AI with some human oversight” were 15pc. This increased to 19pc in 2025, with under-35s almost twice as comfortable as over-35s when considering the same measure.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
