• Face-to-face conversations about current events are the most widespread form of engagement with the news (43%) and the one experiencing the fastest growth among Spaniards

• More passive forms of participation, such as reading comments (39%) or sharing news (34%), are more common than more active forms, such as commenting on information (16%)

Keeping up with the news is no longer just a matter of turning on the TV or opening the newspaper. Participating, expressing an opinion, reacting, or simply sharing a news story has become part of daily life, both online and offline. In 2026, nearly eight out of ten respondents (78%) engaged in some news-related activity in the past week (discussing a topic , sharing, reading, etc.), three percentage points more than last year.

 
However, what stands out most is not how many people participate, but how they do so. The most common activity is also the simplest and oldest: discussing the news with others face-to-face. Forty-three percent of respondents said they had done so during the week prior to the survey, seven percentage points more than in 2025 and four more than in 2023 and 2024. In contrast, conversation online Communication with friends or acquaintances (via WhatsApp, Telegram, or social media) has fallen behind: only 15% say they do so, a figure similar to that of 2023. The news remains topic social conversation, but increasingly within trusted and close-knit circles, rather than in the open place .

The second most common form of engagement with news is reading comments (39%), whether on social media (27%) or on news websites (21%). This is a high percentage, very close to the peak recorded in 2024. In other words, although most people do not post their own opinions, they do consume the opinions of others. Comments continue to influence how the news is perceived, even if only as a barometer of what people think.

News sharing has also rebounded, albeit to a lesser extent. The total percentage of people who share news (through any medium) has risen by two percentage points compared to 2025, reaching 34%, but it is still far below the data (41%). Furthermore, the primary channel for sharing is not open social media platforms, but instant messaging. One in four users (25%) uses WhatsApp or Facebook to send a news story. In contrast, only 14% use social media platforms such as X, Facebook Instagram share them. Email is now a thing of the past (4%). The circulation of information is shifting toward more closed spaces, such as trusted groups and chats with family or friends.

The most active or public forms of participation remain the preserve of a minority. For example, commenting on news stories on social media accounts for only 12%, and doing so on media websites, 6%. This debunks a myth: the impression that everyone expresses their opinions online is false. What we see is a very active minority, while the majority watches, reads, or limits themselves to private conversations. On the other hand, low-effort interactions—such as “liking,” rating, voting in polls, or saving a news story as a favorite—have also rebounded somewhat (19%, three points higher than in 2025).

Finally, there is a percentage of people who do not participate at all: 22% admit to not having done any of these things in the past week, three percentage points less than in 2025.

International Comparison: Highly Conversational News Coverage

The rate of engagement with news in Spain is slightly higher (78%) than in the 48 countries analyzed as a whole (76%). The difference is not huge when looking at the global picture, because some countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region have very high levels of engagement, but it is significant in the European context, where Spain ranks among the countries with the highest overall engagement on the continent and outperforms countries such as the Netherlands (56%), the United Kingdom, Germany (63%), Belgium (64%), and France (68%).

 
That said, Spain stands out not only for its Issue of engagement but also for the predominant subject engagement. Its profile less that of a country of commentators and more that of a country where news circulates socially: it is discussed, shared, and easily incorporated into everyday conversation. Nearly half of Spanish respondents talk with others about current events (48%), nine points above the global average. Within Europe, only Sweden ranks higher (50%). Furthermore, as we have seen, Spain maintains a preference for face-to-face conversation (43%), well above the overall average (32%, +11 pp).

Spain also stands out for sharing news. Thirty-four percent of respondents share news during the week, three percentage points above the overall average (31%). In the European context, this is a high percentage. Only Turkey is clearly above this figure (38%). Portugal stands at 31%, Ireland at 28%, France at 27%, and Italy at 26%.

Interest in current events: the driving force behind participation

Interest in the news is the real driving force that sparks or dampens engagement. The data makes data very clear: 85% of those who are very interested in current events have engaged in some news-related activity (sharing, commenting, talking, etc.), compared to 74% of those who are moderately interested and 57% of those who are uninterested. Interest not only leads to consuming more news, but also to sharing it, discussing it, and seeing what others have to say.

Spain thus emerges as a country with a high level of engagement with the news, especially among those interested in current events, with characteristics that are quite distinct from those of other European countries. People talk a lot about the news, share it fairly often, and read others’ reactions, although few take the step of expressing their opinions publicly.