View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
June 23, 2021updated 30 Sep 2022 10:23am

The ‘great unbundling’: Survey says 8% of Britons use local newspaper website on weekly basis, 6% print

By Charlotte Tobitt

What people want from their local and regional news media is “increasingly confined” to a small number of subjects such as politics and crime, a new report has found.

This has resulted from a “great unbundling” of traditional local newspaper packages meaning social and search platforms and specialist websites are now the winners in areas such as: things to do, housing, jobs and weather.

The 2021 Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism noted that regional and local newspapers are used by 6% of people in the UK each week in print and 8% online, according to a Yougov survey of about 2,000 people carried out as part of the report.

Even during the coronavirus pandemic, throughout which trust in traditional news media has been boosted, local newspapers were seen as only the third-best source for local Covid-19 information by UK respondents.

Search or other websites were seen as the best source for coronavirus news by 26% of Brits, followed by local TV (22%) and then newspapers (17%). Newspapers beat social media on 12% and local radio on 8%.

By contrast, local newspapers were seen as the best source for Covid-19 information by more than half (53%) of respondents in Norway.

The report found that Norwegians value their local newspapers more than twice as much as Brits in every category.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

This appeared to translate to willingness to pay for local news, with 57% of news subscribers in Norway paying for at least one local digital outlet compared to 23% in the US and just 3% in the UK.

Across 38 countries local newspapers were seen as the best source of news for local announcements (48%), local crime (31%), the local economy (30%), local politics (29%), local sport (27%), and schools and education (22%).

Local TV was seen as the best source for Covid-19 information (22%).

In general traditional media (newspapers, TV and radio) are preferred for hard news topics, accounting for about 50% to 60% of preferences for politics, crime, Covid-19, the economy and sport.

Newspapers also continued to be valued for formal announcements such as births, deaths and weddings.

But social media and search websites take the biggest shares for information about shops and restaurants (49%), local services (47%), or things to do (46%).

The survey also asked people in 38 markets what information they had actually sought out in the previous week, revealing around half had accessed both coronavirus or other health news and weather information.

But rates were low for all other topics, with around a third saying they had accessed local politics information in the previous week and all other topics below that level and most under a quarter.

In general terms, many Nordic and Eastern European countries had high access rates for local news, the US and many Latin American countries sat somewhere in the middle, and the UK, Japan and an anomalous Denmark sat at the bottom.

The report said: "In the past, traditional local news media have been used for a wide range of local news and information. Today, as our analysis has shown, they are seen as the best source only for a minority of topics, with people preferring platforms and specialised websites for most others.

"This ‘great unbundling’ has further undermined traditional business models, underlining the importance of a much clearer value proposition for local news media who want to stand out from the many alternative sources of information available."

The report also suggested that in places where people access local news more often they have higher attachment to their community, but noted research has so far been unable to provide evidence of a causal relationship.

Picture: Shutterstock

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network