The BBC News app was downloaded 2.2 million times in 2020 making it the most popular newly-installed news app in the UK during the year. The mobile apps of other big name publishers proved similarly popular.
Sky’s news app was the second most popular with 1.1 million downloads, while the Guardian and Mail Online’s news app were also among the top ten most downloaded, according to Press Gazette’s analysis of data provided by mobile app marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
In third place was Reach’s local news aggregator In Your Area.
The Sun’s news app, while making the top 15, had fewer downloads than other big name news brands with 0.2 million installs. The highly popular Apple news app, which comes pre-installed on iPhones, did not appear in the data due to Apple security rules.
2020 has been one hell of a year, with no shortage of massive news stories: the coronavirus pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Australian bushfires, the US presidential election.the list goes on. We have seen some outstanding coverage on these big topics.
The year has also been tough for the media industry, with redundancies and furloughed staff, disrupted newsrooms and working from home. Journalism.co.uk went through the same challenges as many others but we continue to monitor what is happening in our industry while working from our bedrooms and lounges.
As 2020 draws to a close, we look back on some of our - and your - favourite news stories of this year. If you read, watch or listen one thing, make it this.
In March 2020, as COVID-19 spread around the world and political leaders began to realise that an immediate response to the pandemic would involve personal sacrifices and public action, politicians and their directors of public health policies took to stadiums, lecterns, and cameras to speak about the need to stay home, shut schools and nurseries, ration access to grocery stores and health services.
The men, and they were usually men, spoke of social cohesion and a need to act selflessly and responsibly. The women, and they were usually women, who took on the greatest burden on housework, childcare and responsibility for ageing parents, sighed, took a deep breath and got to work.
September 1, 2020 In totality, this research affirms that freedom of expression, access to information and critical, independent journalism - supported by open and affordable internet access - are not only fundamental human rights, but should be treasured as essential tools in the arsenal to combat disinformation - whether connected to a pandemic, elections, climate change or social issues. Disinformation can cause harm in confusing or manipulating citizens; creating distrust in international norms, institutions, or democratically agreed strategies; disrupting elections; or painting a false picture about key challenges such as climate change. It can also be deadly, as the COVID-19 disinfodemic has illustrated (
Editors share their 2021 outlook
2020-12-16. A World Editors Outlook Survey, conducted in the last quarter of 2020, points to further newsroom cutbacks â and some rethinking about what to cover editorially and how to cover it.
| December 16, 2020
The poll of some 50 news media professionals found almost 80% expect their newsroom to be smaller, staffwise, in 2021 than at the start of 2020. A third said the change would be significant, a third moderate. Against the trend, around 5% were hoping to be able to increase staff.
There will be some shifts in editorial priorities
â there will be greater focus on health, science, and climate coverage while sport and entertainment could come under pressure.