Regional media remains the preferred source of information on local politics and crime stories – but not for information about local services, jobs and ‘things to do’ according to a new report.

Research by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has found a majority of people believe local media is the best source of information on local politics in their area – including 30pc who specifically cite local newspapers as their preferred outlet.

This compares with 16pc who prefer local TV, 14pc who cite social media, 13pc who use other websites, 12pc who get their information from local politicians themselves and 5pc who prefer local radio.

However, the statistics are less favourable on when people are looking for local ‘things to do’ and weather, with just 18pc and 8pc respondents respectively choosing local papers as their preferred source of information on those subjects.

The same study also revealed just 17pc of those surveyed in the UK prefer to get local information on coronavirus from the local press, compared with 22pc who use local TV and 19pc who use other internet sites.

According to researchers, the figures show people have “come to rely on traditional local news sources for only a very limited set of topics which will be difficult to monetise on their own”.

A wider survey conducted for the study across 38 countries, including the UK, revealed local media to be the preferred source of information for local announcements, crime, the economy, sport and politics.

Local newspapers specifically were the most popular source of information on each of those topics.

However, on topics including local jobs, properties, ‘things to do’, local weather and services, a majority preferred to use sources including social media, search engines or other websites.

The findings appear in the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2021, which has been published today, following a study conducted by postdoctoral research fellow Anne Schulz, pictured.

She wrote: “Local news media still come out top when it comes to information about local politics. But we also saw that only a third say they have accessed such information in the past week.

“So local media have clear strengths, but in a very competitive media environment effective demand may be limited.

“A sense of attachment to the local community is associated with higher engagement with local news, but even in countries with relatively higher levels of attachment, people have come to rely on traditional local news sources for only a very limited set of topics which will be difficult to monetise on their own.”

“Longstanding local publishers are moving forward in the face of these challenges, with local newspapers across the world working to develop new editorial products and distinguish value-added journalism from the abundant information available online.”

Anne added: “But it is uncertain how far these or similar efforts elsewhere will be able to solve the profound problems around the unbundling of local information that we have mapped with our data.

“Given the competition from platforms and other digital alternatives, local news media’s share of attention, and thus advertising and reader revenues, will be very different from a past in which newspapers in particular dominated local media markets.”

The full report can be read here.