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Green Templeton College

Dr Richard Fletcher

Director of Research and Deputy Director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Dr Richard Fletcher is an expert on global trends in digital news consumption, comparative media research, AI and the relationship between technology, journalism and news use.

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Academic profiles

Reuters Institute

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About

Dr Richard Fletcher works on the Digital News Project and is lead researcher and co-author of the main Digital News Report – the world's largest annual survey of global news consumption.

He also works on the AI and the Future of News project, and the research arm of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network. Dr Fletcher uses the data from these projects to conduct comparative cross-national research into patterns of news consumption, the use of AI, audience fragmentation and polarisation, the effects of search engines and social media on news use and trust in news.

Dr Fletcher has served as co-rapporteur on the Council of Europe’s expert committee on Increasing Resilience of Media (MSI-RES), and regularly provides evidence and briefings for policymakers and officials, both nationally and internationally. He has also co-authored a literature review of research on echo chambers and filter bubbles for the Royal Society.

In 2018 and again in 2025 Dr Fletcher won the International Communication Association Journalism Studies division's Wolfgang Donsbach Outstanding Journal Article of the Year Award.

He is an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College.

Expertise

  • News use
  • Audience research
  • Trust in news
  • AI in journalism
  • Polarisation

Selected publications

Media experience

Experience of interviews with print media

Languages

English