Country Profiles

We see parallels across many responses between Australia and the United States on the one hand, and Brazil and South Africa on the other. 

Broadly, Australian and U.S. populations are older and have more formal education than those in Brazil and South Africa. They use internet devices more and are more likely to have used generative AI in the last year. All the same, they generally report that digital technology is less important to their ability to get and stay informed, and they report lower use of technology for personal ends, as well as slightly lower approval of journalists’ uses of technology.

They care more about journalists’ AI use, compared with Brazilians and South Africans, and are less optimistic about the future of technology in general, especially about AI. 

They also report somewhat less interest in the social aspects of information habits. They are more likely to say that news and journalism differ, but they are also less likely to say that only journalists can produce journalism.

These trends seem to parallel a larger global pattern — between the Global North and the Global South,¹ which share demographic, economic and political similarities. In general, countries in the Global North are wealthier and wield disproportionate geopolitical power, although they are a minority at the global scale. CNTI’s parallel study of journalists also found that those in the Global North were less optimistic about technology.

Here we provide a profile for each country based on the survey results.

Australia: Old-school news consumers

Australians are generally older and have higher levels of formal education compared with Brazil and South Africa. Australians report regularly keeping informed and high usage of devices connected to the internet. Of the four countries in this study, Australians report the most consumption of journalism content in a given week. Most people start with either a specific news organization or a social networking site to learn about issues and events. Australians regularly consume content on TV and via the internet. Those who use a social media platform to keep informed start most often with their main feed.

Australians say several factors are important for how they choose to get informed. The largest factor for them is getting the news quickly (77%), while they report placing the lowest importance on feeling a personal connection to the source of news (39%). 

When given a choice between a specific organization or an individual to keep informed, most Australians (73%) look to organizations. A large majority also see a difference between news and journalism and say that (1) people who are not journalists can produce journalism and (2) everyday people can produce journalism. A strong majority say that consuming journalistic content from news organizations that employ reporters is at least somewhat important. 

Overall, Australians report several challenges regarding their ability to stay informed. Their main challenges are with (1) knowing who or what to trust (79%) and (2) the availability of high-quality reporting (72%), while having technology that works is of much lower concern (39%). Although they believe there are challenges when it comes to staying informed, a strong majority (81%) of Australians view news organizations that employ reporters as critical for an informed society.

Strong majorities of Australians say that digital technology is very important to their ability to keep informed. Most have used technology to check the accuracy of something (81%), while about half have used it to improve their writing, translate content and edit images. Slightly fewer (42%) have used technology to summarize a lot of documents. Yet, Australians are generally supportive of journalists using technology, except for editing an image — a majority are against (61%) journalists using technology in this way. 

Most report hearing at least a fair amount about developments in AI, even though personal experience with generative AI is split. Australians lean neutral (42-49%) to negative (28-35%) when considering AI’s impact on (1) their ability to keep informed and (2) journalists’ reporting ability.

A slim majority of Australians (61%) say it matters whether AI was used in the reporting process. They report the largest factors are (1) the quality of the AI tool, (2) what the journalist used AI to do and (3) that a person reviewed the AI content produced — each of which received near equal support.

People from Australia are moderately confident about the future of an open internet. They are positive about their current ability to keep informed, and also view developments in digital technology as positive for their ability to keep informed. 

United States: Older, educated and ambivalent about technology

People in the U.S. are the oldest and have the most formal education. They report regularly keeping informed and using devices connected to the internet. Yet, Americans are not the most avid consumers of journalism in a given week. Most turn to either a specific news organization or a social networking site to learn about issues and events. They regularly consume content on TV and via the internet. Those who use a social media platform to keep informed usually go to their main feed. 

Only a few factors are reported as being at least somewhat important to Americans when it comes to how they get informed: (1) getting news quickly (80%), (2) seeing news from different sources (77%) and (3) going more or less in depth (84%). In the U.S., being able to engage with others is not an important aspect of getting informed, whereas this is an important factor in Brazil and South Africa. 

A strong majority of Americans (75%) prioritize information from a certain organization over information from a certain individual. A majority (65%) also sees a difference between news and journalism and agree that (1) journalists are not the only producers of journalism and (2) everyday people can produce journalism. Still, consuming journalism from news organizations that employ reporters is somewhat important to them.

Americans generally report fewer challenges with technology than Brazilians and South Africans. They do voice at least some challenges with (1) knowing who or what to trust (80%) and (2) choosing among many sources (60%). A large majority of Americans (77%) view news organizations that employ reporters as a critical part of an informed society. 

A majority of Americans (57%) view digital technology as very important to their ability to keep informed. The only personal use of technology that a majority engaged in is checking the accuracy of content. Roughly half or fewer Americans report having used technology for making their writing better, summarizing a lot of documents, translating content into another language or editing an image. However, even without as much self-reported use of technology in the past year, Americans are OK with journalists’ use of technology with the exception of image editing; only 49% are mostly OK with it. 

Americans say that they have heard at least a fair bit about developments in AI and a sizable minority of Americans (32%) have used generative AI in the past year — fewer than in Australia. People in the U.S. report a neutral (38-46%) to negative (36-41%) outlook regarding how AI is expected to impact (1) their ability to keep informed and (2) journalists’ reporting ability. They are more negative about AI and journalists’ reporting ability than people in the other three countries. 

A majority of Americans (62%) say it matters at least somewhat whether AI was used in the reporting process. The largest factors are (1) the quality of the AI tool used, (2) what the journalist used AI for and (3) that a person reviewed AI content.

The U.S. exhibits a moderately positive outlook about the internet being a place to freely get and share news, but a plurality of Americans hold a neutral outlook regarding their current ability to keep informed — a difference compared with the positive outlooks in the other three countries studied. Americans are slightly more positive with respect to the impact of developments in digital technology — but still less positive than the other three countries. 

Brazil: Digitally connected and open to the future, despite information challenges

Brazilians skew younger and have less formal education than people in Australia or the U.S. They report keeping informed about issues and events at slightly lower rates than the other three countries, but they have a moderately high usage of devices connected to the internet. Brazilians are second (behind Australia) when it comes to self-reports of journalism pieces consumed weekly. Most start with either a specific news organization or a social networking site to learn about issues and events. Of those who use social media to keep informed, the plurality (45%) begin with a specific channel. 

Brazilians report that (1) getting the news quickly, (2) seeing news from different sources, (3) going more or less in depth on a story, (4) feeling a personal connection to the source of news, (5) getting news from professional journalists and (6) engaging with others are all important factors in how they choose to get informed. 

And while most prefer to look for information from a certain organization (57%) rather than an individual, this number is lower than in the other three countries surveyed. Brazilians are split on whether or not journalism is viewed as different from news, with 54% seeing a difference between the two. About half report that people who are not journalists can produce journalism (52%) and slightly more agree that everyday people can produce journalism (56%). 

Brazilians tend to report facing challenges with their ability to stay informed. The largest challenge is knowing who or what to trust, but reported levels of challenges are high across each item. Though they report experiencing multiple challenges, a strong majority of Brazilians (80%) consider news organizations that employ reporters critical to society. 

Digital technology is important to Brazilians and majorities have used technology for (1) checking the accuracy of something, (2) editing images, (3) making their writing better and (4) summarizing a lot of documents. About half have used technology for translating content into another language. Brazilians are also largely supportive of journalists using technology — even for editing images. 

Brazilians report hearing a moderate amount about recent developments in AI, though this is lower than in Australia and the U.S. Most (55%) say that they have not tried using generative AI in the last year, and about one-in-four do not know what generative AI is, yet Brazilians report being somewhat positive about AI’s impact on both (1) their ability to keep informed and (2) journalists’ ability to report on issues and events.

While Brazilians do not report it matters very much whether AI was used in the reporting process, they do place an emphasis on how AI was used by journalists. They say that the topic of the story and the content format are both big factors to consider, to a larger degree than people in Australia and the U.S.

Brazilians are moderately confident the internet will be a place to get news and they are positive about both (1) their ability to keep informed and (2) that developments in digital technology will allow them to keep informed.

South Africa: Young and pro-tech in a diverse information ecosystem

South Africans skew the youngest in our four-country study and also have relatively low levels of formal education. They report keeping informed with issues and events very closely at the highest levels of any country, but also the lowest usage of devices connected to the internet — although a majority still use these devices regularly. South Africans do not report consuming as much journalism in a given week as people in Australia and Brazil. Most South Africans report starting with a news organization or social media site. Those who choose to get informed using social media sites usually go to a specific channel. Interestingly, South Africans report using radio more than any other country.

South Africans report that (1) getting the news quickly, (2) seeing news from different sources, (3) going more or less in depth on a story, (4) feeling a personal connection to the source of news, (5) getting news from professional journalists and (6) engaging with others are all important factors in how they choose to get informed — similar to the perspectives in Brazil. 

A strong majority of South Africans say that they look for information from a certain organization (72%) rather than from a certain individual (26%), but a majority also report not seeing a difference between news and journalism. South Africans differ from the other three countries in this regard. They are also split on whether journalists are the only producers of journalism, yet a strong majority (65%) say that everyday people can produce journalism. Consuming information from news organizations that employ reporters is very important to South Africans. 

Compared with Brazil, South Africans report having less of a challenge knowing who or what to trust; their responses are comparable to those in Australia and the U.S. However, they do report having moderate challenges choosing among all the sources and big challenges with the availability of high-quality reporting. A strong majority of South Africans (76%) view news organizations that employ reporters as critical for an informed society.

South Africans say digital technologies are very important to their ability to stay informed and, compared with the other three countries surveyed, South Africans report greater use of technology to improve their writing, summarize documents and translate content. They are also widely supportive of journalists using technology, including to edit images. 

Yet, South Africans report lower levels of awareness regarding recent developments in AI compared with the other three countries. Many have not used generative AI, though more (27%) have used it in the last year than in Brazil (18%). Even so, people in South Africa are positive/neutral about AI’s ability to (1) keep them informed and (2) assist journalists’ reporting abilities. 

A majority of South Africans (60%) is very confident that the internet will be a place to get and share news openly, much more so than people anywhere else. And they are positive about their ability to keep informed as well as the role developments in digital technology will have on their ability to keep informed.