Concerns about AI and social media grow among journalists ahead of Federal Election, survey finds

/EIN News/ -- SYDNEY, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new survey of more than 500 journalists revealed growing concerns about the rapidly changing media landscape, particularly regarding the rise of generative AI and the fragmentation of news sources due to social media.

The findings raise concerns about the state of journalism just months away from the Federal Election.

A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.

The Medianet 2025 Media Landscape Report uncovered a slow adoption of generative artificial intelligence, with 63% of journalists claiming not to have used AI tools yet. Even though adoption has increased slightly, widespread anxiety about the impact of AI on journalistic integrity and job security remains high, with 88% of respondents expressing concerns about generative AI and 16% reporting job losses linked to AI.

Most journalists point to ‘disinformation’ and ‘fake news’ as the top threat to public interest journalism. Concerns about media outlet closures have risen by nearly a quarter compared to the previous year. Nearly half of respondents believe AI is a threat as well.

“While some journalists acknowledge the need and inevitability of these changes, the vast majority are struggling to adapt and fear what these changes might mean for them, their industry and the implications for our society,” says Medianet Managing Director, Amrita Sidhu.

The report also highlights the complex relationship journalists have with social media. Seventy percent of journalists use social media as a source, yet 67% believe it contributes to misinformation and echo chambers.

Among the preferred social media platforms for professional use, Facebook continues to rank at the top, followed by Instagram and LinkedIn. Elon Musk’s X suffered a sharp decline in usage as a story source dropping from 69% in 2022 to 58% in 2023, and further down to 48% in 2024. Competitor Bluesky is now being used by 19% of journalists.

The majority of journalists surveyed recognised a decline in media trust, attributing it to fragmentation, polarisation, and misinformation. Furthermore, 28% of journalists said that their own reporting is not free of bias.

“This year's report highlights the significant pressures facing Australian journalists,” said Sidhu.

“They are grappling with issues of trust and the evolving role of technology, all while navigating a precarious media landscape.”

• To download the full report, click here.
• To download graphics, click here.
• To download a summary of the report, click here.
  

About the Medianet Media Landscape Report

The Medianet Media Landscape Report offers a yearly snapshot of the Australian journalism and media industry, capturing the current work conditions, challenges, opinions, and developing trends as experienced and observed by working journalists.

Since 2019, Medianet has surveyed hundreds of journalists to gather their views and experiences on industry-related issues, and to track developing trends over the years. The report also offers valuable insights to PR professionals by examining what journalists need and want from PR, what kind of stories they are looking for, and where they are looking for them.

Key Facts:

Generative AI/Large Language Models and the media

• The majority of journalists (63%) had not personally used generative AI/LLMs in their work.

• This represents an increase in adoption of AI in comparison to 2023, when 74% of journalists said they had not used AI/LLMs.

• A significant majority (88%) of respondents said they were concerned about the impacts that generative AI/LLMs could have on the overall integrity or quality of journalism compared to 79% in 2023.

• There was also an increase in the level of concern from 18% in 2023 to 37% being ‘extremely concerned’ in 2024.

• 45% of respondents also view AI/LLMs as a threat to public interest journalism (an increase from 36% in 2023)

• 16% of journalists said they had lost work or knew someone who had lost work due to the adoption of generative AI/LLMs in 2024. This represents a 33% increase in comparison to responses from 2023.
  

Trust, bias, and the future of journalism

• Respondents were asked whether they considered their reporting to be free of bias. Over 70% of respondents said that they believed their reporting is free of bias. Nearly a third (28%) of respondents said they believed their reporting was not free from bias.

• Those working in community media had the largest proportion of respondents saying their reporting was not free of bias (38% of respondents) while those working in commercial media had the largest percentage of respondents claiming their reporting is free of bias (74% of respondents).

• Almost 20% of respondents said that they have faced negative repercussions for voicing their personal views in their reporting.

• Almost 40% of respondents said they are or have considered reporting for an additional or alternative platform or channel such as Substack. Of those that use alternative platforms or considered doing it, 53% said they did so to supplement their current income. Forty-seven percent said their motivation was to be able to share opinions they would not be able to in their primary media outlet.

• Despite the high use of social media as a source of news, 67% of respondents believe it negatively impacts the media by causing misinformation and echo chambers, rather than providing opportunities for diverse perspectives.

• There is a general agreement among respondents that trust in the media has decreased with many pointing to the fragmentation and dissemination of misinformation as the cause for the fall in trust.
  

Journalists’ sources and social media

• Press releases were the second most used story source, used by 83% of journalists.

• Of the survey respondents who used press releases to source stories in 2024 (83%), the majority (88%) said their PR contacts email them directly with press releases.

• For 36% of respondents, the top reason that would stop them from using a press release is ‘lack of news value’. For 27% of respondents, the top reason is lack of relevance, and for 17% of respondents, an unknown source is the main reason for not using a press release.

• Over time, industry and professional contacts have remained the top story source for journalists (used by 88% of respondents in 2024).

• Almost three quarters (70%) of journalists in 2024 used social media as a story source.

• Facebook continued to be the most commonly used platform by journalists professionally in 2024.

• There was a significant drop in professional Twitter/X usage in 2024, with 48% of respondents saying they used the platform, down from 58% in 2023. Overall, reported usage of Twitter/X has dropped 30% since its takeover by Elon Musk.

• The platform with the most growth however was Bluesky. In just one year, Bluesky was reported to be used by 19% of respondents.
  

Challenges for journalists and threats to the media

• 38% of male journalists who disclosed their pay received a salary of more than $100,000 in 2024, compared to 23% of females. No journalists who identified themselves as non-binary claimed to earn more than $100,000 per year.

• There was also a significant difference in pay depending on the areas journalists worked. Journalists working in the city received far higher salaries overall compared to regional or suburban journalists who were far more represented in the less than $60,000 pay bracket.

• 67% percent of respondents felt they were underpaid in 2024.

• For the third year in a row, the greatest challenge identified by journalists was money.

• Uncertainty about the future and changes to workload were the other two most common greatest challenges experienced by journalists in 2024.

• 75% of journalists said an increase of disinformation or ‘fake news’ threatened public interest journalism in 2024.

• Compared to results from the 2024 survey, concern about media outlet closures have risen by nearly a quarter, making it now the second largest threat to public interest journalism according to respondents.

• In total, over one fifth of respondents (21%) say that they have faced some form of harassment.

• Of those who say they have faced harassment or abuse, the most common reason was due to their coverage of topics (43%), followed by other reasons and/or not knowing the reason for the abuse (34%), gender (28%) and finally, racial background (6%).
  

Work and employment of journalists

• The majority of respondents (65%) were employed full-time in 2024. The next most common employment types were freelance (16%) and part-time (12%).

• Politics, business and health were the three most covered topics or subject areas by journalists surveyed in 2024.

• Of all survey respondents, 42% said their job or role had changed in some way, including changing jobs in the industry, changing roles at the same organisation, taking on additional work, or starting a ‘side hustle’. Six percent said they had started looking for a job outside of journalism.

• The most common pay bracket for journalists in 2024 was between $80,000 to $99,999 per year, followed by $60,000 to $79,999 per year.
  

Key findings for PR

• Industry and professional contacts remained the top story source for journalists (used by 88% of respondents in 2024).

• Press releases were the second most commonly used story source, used by 83% of journalists.

• Most journalists (88%) who use press releases said their PR contacts email them directly with press releases.

• For 36% of respondents, the top reason that would stop them from using a press release is ‘lack of news value’ followed by ‘lack of relevance’ (27% of respondents).

• Facebook remained the most used social media platform by journalists professionally in 2024.

• There was a significant drop in professional X/Twitter usage in 2024, with 48% of respondents saying they used the platform, down from 58% in 2023.
  

About Medianet

Medianet, a division of Mediality, is a PR platform and media intelligence business servicing both the media and public relations industries. Survey responses were collected anonymously in January 2025.

Contact details:
Amrita Sidhu - Managing Director, Medianet
+61 481 177 686
asidhu@medianet.com.au

Mercedes Carrin - Head of Marketing, Medianet
+61 430 729 397
mcarrin@medianet.com.au