Short-Form Video Journalism and the Changing Dynamics of News Consumption: A Systematic Review of Audience, Algorithmic, and News Production Studies

Short-form video platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are becoming important spaces for news, especially among younger audiences. This study reviews how short-form video journalism is changing the way people find, watch, understand, and respond to news. A focused systematic literature review was conducted using 20 empirical studies published online or in print between January 2021 and 30 November 2025. The studies were examined through descriptive mapping and thematic synthesis. The review covered audience behaviour, algorithmic news exposure, attention, trust, engagement, storytelling practices, and newsroom adaptation. The findings show that short-form video makes news faster, more visual, and easier to discover. It can reach people who do not regularly visit news websites or watch traditional news. However, the format may also reduce context, encourage fragmented consumption, and make it harder for some users to move from a brief clip to detailed reporting. Trust remains a concern because professional journalism appears beside entertainment, opinion, influencer content, and unverified information. Journalists are using captions, direct presentation, music, emotion, and platform-specific editing to attract audiences, while still trying to protect accuracy and credibility. TikTok received much more research attention than Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, showing a clear platform gap. Overall, short-form video offers useful opportunities for journalism, but it should support rather than replace detailed reporting. News organisations need to balance speed, creativity, engagement, accuracy, context, and source transparency.