Digital News Report 2026 – An Overview of the Canadian Results

For the first time in the history of the Digital News Report, social media were, domestically and internationally, the news source used by the highest share of respondents in the week preceding the survey. Social media are ahead of television, even though, in Canada, most news media content is blocked on Facebook and Instagram. Still, 53% of Canadian respondents used social media for news during the period, an increase of 9 percentage points (pp) relative to 2025, while 49% used television (a decrease of 4 pp). That said, social media are still below their peak score (55%), reached in 2021 and 2022. Substantial increases can be seen for Francophones and Anglophones alike, and for all age categories.

These data and more are found in the 2026 edition of the annual summary of the Canadian results of the Digital News Report, an international survey conducted in 48 countries by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The Centre d’études sur les médias is the Canadian partner of this study.

As is the case every year, the survey looks at the evolution of trust and interest in news and payment for online news. Among the many other topics covered in 2026, the use of artificial intelligence chatbots or contents from online creators and influencers for news or the effects of news from public broadcasters on life in the Canada. Four out of ten respondents (40%) think it has a positive effect on life in the country, while 19% say that it has a negative effect. Slightly more than one-third (34%) of respondents think the effect is neither positive nor negative.