Taking taxi rides can surely shock you into reality. One time, I rode a taxi where the driver wasn’t listening to music, news, or even a news commentary, but to what sounded like a podcast. Except it wasn’t about politics. It was about martial arts.
It turns out it wasn’t a podcast in the usual sense but an audiobook. A single narrator read out a fictional story that revolved around family drama and martial arts history. It was compelling. During the hour-long ride (thanks to traffic), I got caught in the story — the emotion, fight scenes, the philosophy.
That cab ride came to mind after I read the 2025 Reuters Digital News Report, widely regarded by journalists as the most authoritative global snapshot of how digital audiences consume and interact with news. This year’s findings confirm that the audience is shifting. People prefer digital, social, mobile and increasingly, audio.
In the Philippines, podcast listenership for news is up, reaching 12 percent of online adults. That’s significant and it reflects the broader trend of audio content becoming a gateway to news, especially among the younger and more educated segments. The format offers something that scrolling on the smartphone doesn’t provide, particularly the time to absorb, reflect and enjoy.
Podcasts, essentially on-demand radio shows, can feature anything from news explainers to deep-dive interviews, true crime, or, yes, martial arts fiction. Some offer commentary, analysis, or backgrounders. And some are audiobooks, like the one the taxi driver played, that open up new information pathways beyond text and headlines or video.
Locally, this shift matters. In Cebu, only two daily newspapers remain. Yet we are awash in news on Facebook, YouTube, and digital-only platforms. Many get their news not from websites, but from their smartphone screens or what they play while driving, commuting, cooking, or trying to sleep.
The Reuters study also noted the rise of “newsfluencers” or influencers like podcasters and YouTubers with huge followings, as sources of news. The danger is when these influencers have no training in journalism or ethics and become top sources of misinformation.
If audiences are turning to audio, newsrooms must meet them there. Podcasts, audiobooks and other spoken-word formats are not just trends. They are vehicles for storytelling, context and trust.
That taxi ride reminded me that people still crave stories, and they look for meaning and knowledge. We just have to deliver it in ways they already use. For journalism to stay relevant, we must go where the ears, and not just the eyes, are.
In Cebu, that could mean trying audio formats for a daily roundup of local news, explainers in Bisaya, community interviews, or deeper narrative storytelling through investigative audio reports.
These don’t have to start big. With a smartphone, internet connection and the commitment to credibility, newsrooms can build new pathways to bring journalism back into everyday life, one listen at a time.