US news consumers turn to Joe Rogan, away from traditional sources: report

Prominent podcasters like Joe Rogan are playing a bigger role in news dissemination in the US, as are AI chatbots, contributing to the further erosion of traditional media, according to a report released on Tuesday.
In the week following the January 2025 US presidential inauguration, more Americans said they got their news from social and video networks than from TV and news websites and apps — the first time that shift has occurred, the report said.
Traditional US news media increasingly risks being eclipsed by online personalities and creators, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report, which is based on an online survey of almost 100,000 people in 48 markets, including the US.
The trend is particularly acute among young Americans. Over half of people under age 35 in the US are relying on social media and video networks as their main source for news, the report found. Across the countries that the report surveyed, 44% of people aged 18 to 24 said these networks are their main source of news.
One-fifth of a sampled group of Americans came across news or commentary from podcaster Rogan in the week following the presidential inauguration, the report found, while 14% of respondents said they had come across former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson discussing or commenting on news during that period. Carlson now generates content across multiple social media and video networks.

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