UofG Centre for Public Policy

20 May 2026: Experts from the University of Glasgow share findings from research conducted in the run-up to the Scottish election, which indicates that the shift from traditional media to social media as the dominant way citizens access news in Scotland has serious consequences for political literacy and participation in democratic life.

Blog by Dr Lluis de Nadal and Professor Catherine Happer

This article was published in The Scotsman on 17 May 2026.

In 2025, Ofcom reported that social media had overtaken traditional media as the dominant way citizens in Scotland access news. This follows years of dwindling audiences for professional journalism while ‘news alternatives’ – podcasters, news influencers, and independent outlets – have surged. On the face of it, a wider range of news sources should mean a better informed public, but research conducted by the Glasgow University Media Group (GUMG) in the run up to the Holyrood election indicates that these trends have serious consequences for participation in democratic life – with the most disengaged from conventional news often lacking a basic knowledge of parties, leaders, and policy upon which informed voting decisions are traditionally based.

Changing news landscape

Professional news outlets – the BBC, other broadcasters and press – now compete with these news alternatives within a digital infrastructure controlled by Big Tech. It’s an increasingly challenging environment for traditional journalism to reach audiences as algorithm-driven platforms amplify content which meets the demands of the attention economy – provocative, personality-led, seemingly ‘authentic’. News alternatives are also cheaper to produce, free from the regulatory oversight journalism is subject to, or the checks and balances that give it credibility.

A striking finding in our focus groups was that participants, when asked about their ‘news’ consumption, didn’t immediately think of conventional news. A source named repeatedly was Dylan Page, AKA the ‘News Daddy,’ an influencer with nearly 20M TikTok followers who integrates extracts from existing news footage with his own commentary on politics and world events. Although not everyone saw Page as a 'journalist', his 'agenda free' reporting was popular among participants. He is based in the UK, but perhaps unsurprisingly in a platform attention economy that rewards drama and personality, his videos often centre on US politics and the travails of President Trump. There has been next to nothing on the Scottish or local elections in recent weeks.

A two-tier news audience

If Dylan Page is not a familiar name, chances are the first question you asked when the death of a prominent right-wing influencer hit the headlines last year was: who is Charlie Kirk anyway? That’s because the transition away from conventional news is highly unequal. Our research shows that in recent years a two-tier model for news has emerged: those in the higher income and more educated groups feel well served by conventional journalism, and invest higher levels of trust in it, while the young and those more disaffected from the political system turn to social media.

These feel like two different cultures where different knowledges, priorities and ‘celebrities’ circulate. Those in the latter category, while not following conventional news, are often highly engaged consumers, carefully selecting and assessing information on the issues which matter to them, such as climate change or the war on Gaza, and taking nothing at face value. But what they get less of is the ‘nuts and bolts’ of domestic politics, which helps build a basic knowledge of parties, leaders, and policy needed for informed voting and is considered essential to the functioning of democracy.

Political literacy at risk

In our pre-election study, we found that many in the younger age groups could not name John Swinney as the First Minister of Scotland, whereas almost everyone could name Nicola Sturgeon, a big personality who was very present during the independence referendum, when the stakes and drama were high in Scottish politics. There was confusion over whether people in Scotland could vote for Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party in England and Wales. That an election in May was even happening was not top of mind for many.

Even some of those who followed broadcast news and were aware of the election showed little interest in it. Perhaps it was the sense of a foregone conclusion in a country governed by the same party for 19 years, or the widespread perception that the political system cannot deliver the real change the country needs, something we have seen across our research in the last decade. But while voter disengagement has long concerned us, a growing share of the electorate who don’t know exactly who or what they are voting for – but who know exactly who Charie Kirk is – represents a different kind of risk, and one which the new SNP government should treat as a priority. Citizens need political literacy to evaluate who governs them, resist manipulation and hold power to account, and insofar as that literacy remains a byproduct of professional journalism, no news is bad news for democracy.

Authors 

Catherine Happer is Professor of Media Sociology in the University of Glasgow School of Social & Political Sciences, Director of the Glasgow University Media Group (GUMG) and Subject Group Lead of Media, Culture and Society. 

Dr Lluis de Nadal Alsina is Lecturer in Media, Culture & Society in the University of Glasgow School of Social and Political Sciences, and a member of the Glasgow University Media Group. 

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge Dr James Morrison, Associate Professor of Journalism Studies in the University of Stirling School of Communication, and Deputy Associate Dean for Research Impact for Stirling's Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, for his contribution to the research. 

This article was published in The Scotsman on 17 May 2026.

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First published: 20 May 2026