Andrew Grill joined BBC Bristol presenter John Darvall for a live discussion on the 2026 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, published today by Oxford University. The conversation explored what artificial intelligence means for how people find, consume and trust news — and why the answers are more uncomfortable than most organisations want to admit.
The trust crisis in context
The Reuters Institute’s annual Digital News Report, based on a survey of almost 100,000 people across 48 countries, found that global trust in news has fallen to 37% — the lowest level recorded since the research began in 2015. In the UK, trust stands at just 30%, down five points in a single year and 20 points lower than a decade ago. Four in ten people actively avoid the news at least some of the time.
Google Zero: the concept at the heart of the conversation
Andrew introduced the concept of Google Zero — the growing phenomenon where AI-generated answers appear at the top of search results, meaning users get the information they need without ever clicking through to the original news source. For publishers, this represents a structural collapse in the referral traffic that funds journalism. Search traffic to news sites fell by a third globally between November 2024 and November 2025. Publishers expect it to halve within three years.
As Andrew explained on air: Google has to balance monetisation with AI answers. If it can make money from a search — flights, products, commercial queries — it still serves the traditional blue links. But for editorial and informational queries, the AI answer increasingly wins. Most users never check the footnote telling them where that answer came from.
The press baron parallel
Presenter John Darvall drew a direct historical parallel: just as powerful press barons shaped the editorial agenda of newspapers, today’s technology companies shape what AI surfaces as an answer. Andrew agreed, adding a critical nuance — unlike a newspaper, AI doesn’t know your political leanings or worldview. It gives you the answer it calculates to be correct, with human bias baked into its training data. The user has no visibility of whose bias that is, or where the answer originated.
The UK picture on AI and news
The report reveals that the UK is an outlier globally. Only 4% of British people use AI chatbots for news — the lowest figure of any market surveyed. And just 6% trust the answers they receive from AI for news purposes — also the lowest globally. Andrew noted this figure will rise: as people increasingly turn to AI for answers across all areas of their lives, news will follow.
Paying for journalism
Asked whether he avoids the news, Andrew was direct: he is a news hound, and he pays for journalism. His view is that financial support for quality outlets is one of the most practical ways individuals can help ensure that verified, ethical reporting survives the structural pressures now bearing down on the industry.
Read the research
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 is based on an online survey of 97,520 respondents across 48 markets. The full executive summary is available on the Reuters Institute Website.
Andrew Grill is The Actionable Futurist — a global AI keynote speaker, strategist and host of the Digitally Curious podcast. He speaks regularly to broadcast media on the practical implications of artificial intelligence for organisations and society.
