The proportion of UK residents getting their news from print has fallen from 59pc to just 12pc in the space of 12 years, a new report today reveals.

The Reuters Institute has today released its annual Digital News Report looking at trends in the media industry worldwide.

It reveals that since 2013, print audiences have declined from 59pc of the population to just 12pc, while TV audiences are also down from 79pc to 48pc.

The proportion getting their news online remains steady at 73pc – but with just 10pc of people paying for online news, publishers are continuing to struggle to grow their digital subscription businesses.

However there is more positive news for regional publishers with the report showing that the level of trust in local newspapers stands at 51pc – higher than any national newspaper except the Financial Times on 57pc.

The BBC remains the most trusted source of news, with a 60pc trust rating while The Sun is the least trusted on 17pc.

But while engagement with traditional media sources such as TV and print has seen significant falls, social media, podcasts and AI chatbots are continuing to grow.

The report was based on an online survey of almost 100,000 people in 48 different news markets across the world.

It states: “This year’s Report documents how an accelerating  shift towards news consumption via social media and video platforms is further  diminishing the influence of traditional news organisations and supercharging a  fragmented alternative media environment containing an array of podcasters, YouTubers, and TikTokers.

“At the same time, chatbots powered by generative AI are emerging as a new way to access information, especially with people under 35 – raising concerns about a potential loss of search referral traffic to publisher websites and apps.

“Despite this, audiences remain mostly sceptical about news they find in both social and AI platforms, partly driven by concerns about access to reliable content. Online influencers and politicians are seen as the biggest threats in this regard, while the majority expect generative AI to make the news cheaper to make, but less accurate and less trustworthy.

“These concerns could offer opportunities for publishers, as audiences say they still look to news brands when checking for reliable information, ahead of sources such as politicians, influencers and trusted personal contacts.

The UK section of the report states: “Commercially, growing subscription and membership revenues remained a big part of the strategic agenda for most news publishers but with willingness to pay relatively low in the UK few are relying exclusively or even predominantly on reader revenue and are instead pursuing a balanced mix of advertising, subscriptions, and other revenue sources.”

The proportion paying for online news in the UK stood at 10pc compared with 42pc in Norway, 31pc in Sweden and 20pc in the USA.

The recent growth of Manchester-based Mill Media is singled out for mention in the UK section of the report.

It states: “Some of the most interesting new launch activity was in local news. Mill Media, a digital-only local news provider which first launched in 2020, has now expanded to six English and Scottish cities, including London which lost its last remaining daily print newspaper, the Evening Standard, in September 2024.”

But 58pc of the survey’s sample say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to online news.

And when it comes to trust, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide with 47pc identifying them as a source of false of miseading information.

News avoidance remains an issue, with four out of 10 people saying they sometimes or often avoid the news – up from 29pc in 2017.

A similar proportion of news avoiders say the news has a negative effect on their mood, while 31pc say they are “worn out” by the amount of news.

The full report can be read here.