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Mothership has overtaken CNA and Straits Times to become the most widely-used online news source in Singapore.

According to the 2023 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, Mothership came in first, with 48 per cent of survey respondents accessing it at least once a week.

A slightly smaller percentage did the same for CNA, at 46 per cent, although more survey respondents (32 per cent) accessed CNA at least three days a week, as compared to Mothership (30 per cent).

Straits Times online took the third spot with 42 per cent.

Straits Times highest in TV, print and radio

Straits Times took the first spot for weekly offline use, which covers print, TV and radio, with 37 per cent.

MediaCorp took the next three spots, with CNA at 33 per cent, Channel 8 News at 26 per cent and Channel 5 News at 24 per cent. American network CNN rounded out the top five with 14 per cent.

The report noted that online and social media remain the "most common ways" of accessing the news in Singapore.

"Both TV and print have declined significantly over the last few years," it added. Just 15 per cent of respondents said they paid for online news.

CNA highest in brand trust

CNA, Channel 5 News and Straits Times took the top three spots for brand trust scores, out of a non-exhaustive list of media outlets in Singapore.

CNA scored 75 per cent, while Channel 5 News and ST tying at 73 per cent.

Despite Mothership's widespread use, brand trust dipped to 52 per cent, from a score of 53 per cent in 2022 and 2021.

The report noted that the proportion of respondents who trust the news "most of the time" remains "stable" at 45 per cent.

The survey asked respondents "How trustworthy would you say news from the following brands is?" It then asked respondents to use a scale of zero to 10, with those of haven't heard of each brand being excluded.

A score of six to 10 was considered as "trust", five considered as "neither" and zero to four considered as "don't trust".

"Whether respondents consider a brand trustworthy is their subjective judgement, and the scores are aggregates of public opinion, not an objective assessment of underlying trustworthiness," the report stated.

Mothership's Managing Editor Martino Tan said 2023 showed how news organisations worldwide are adapting to the changing nature of social media and video-led networks.

"We are encouraged by the Reuters Institute report that listed Mothership as the most-used online news source in Singapore. We are grateful to our audiences and partners for their support, despite it having been a very challenging year for digital publishers," he said.

Mothership will commemorate its 10th anniversary in Aug. 2023. Tan said that while progress has been made, the work to remain relevant continues, and Mothership must be responsive to the new realities of social media and the "evolving needs" of audiences.

"We are mindful that the health and success of a media outlet is not solely defined by its reach and accessibility, but by its credibility and reliability.

We will continue to improve our work and find new ways to contribute meaningfully to our audiences' lives."

Report methodology

The report is commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, at Oxford University in the UK.

Research was conducted by YouGov using an online questionnaire at the end of January and the beginning of February 2023. This was done in a variety of different countries across the world, in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Asia Pacific.

For Singapore in particular, the survey's sample size was 2,025.

Singapore has a population of 5.9 million and internet penetration of 92 per cent, according to the report.

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Top image by Sulaiman Daud