The Digital News Report 2023 reveals more Australians are paying to subscribe for the news they trust

The Digital News Report 2023, produced by the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra, is part of a long-running international survey coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Between mid-January and the end of February 2023, 46 countries were surveyed on their media usage.

According to the report, the number of Australians paying for news had grown by four percentage points since 2022, coming out at approximately one in five people surveyed at 22 per cent. This was higher than the average for developed news markets within the survey, which measured at 16 per cent.

Of all the countries surveyed, Australia had the third highest percentage of people paying for their news.

Men were also found to be more likely to pay for news than women, coming in at 32 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

The gap between the two grew from 7 percentage points in 2022 to 19 percentage points in 2023, creating a gender gap size that was unusual in comparison to the rest of the globe.

People with high levels of education also recorded a significant jump in news payments year-on-year, increasing by 13 percentage points to 41 per cent of those surveyed.

The number one reason influencing the purchase of a news subscription was the desire for better quality news, as well as convenience and want to fund quality journalism, the report said.

"This year's data confirms Australians' desire for high quality and trustworthy news while they struggle with the overwhelming volume of information and misinformation," the report said.

"Recognition of the role that algorithms play in filtering the news appears to be high.

"What Australian news consumers do want is positive news, watchdog journalism, and news stories that suggest solutions. For paying news consumers these are particularly important priorities."

The report also revealed Australians' trust in news increased slightly over the year, up two percentage points to 43 per cent of the survey respondents. This percentage was higher than the global average, which sat at 40 per cent.

However, distrust in news had also grown slightly, measuring a two percentage point increase to 31 per cent, which is a six percentage point increase since 2016.

The percentage of Australian distrust revealed in the report was also higher than the global average (28 per cent).

The increase on both sides of the spectrum is reflective of a decline in respondents who said they neither trust or distrust news, which dropped by three percentage points and measured 26 per cent year-on-year.

Australia was the country with the second highest level of concern regarding misinformation. Some 69 per cent of those surveyed were worried, a five percentage point increase from 2022.

The report states the understanding of what misinformation is spans from poor quality journalism, to bias and sensationalism.

It also revealed that those who were concerned about misinformation had more faith in public service media platforms, such as the ABC and SBS, compared to those who had no concern.

The effect of the unfolding cost-of-living crisis had led only a small number of the people surveyed to cancel news subscriptions compared to those who weren't being affected by it, the report revealed.

Thirteen per cent of respondents who said they were being affected by cost-of-living pressures said they cancelled their subscriptions, compared to eight per cent of those who said they were somewhat affected, and 11 per cent who said they were not very affected or not affected at all.

However, those who were feeling the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis were found to be the most interested in news.

Fifty-five per cent of people who had felt squeezed by the rising cost of living said they had a high interest in news, while 39 per cent said they had a high interest in politics.

By comparison, 43 per cent of people not affected by cost-of-living changes said they had a high interest in news, and 29 per cent said they had a high interest in politics.

Writing in the Digital News Report 2023, Canberra Times managing editor John-Paul Moloney said strong and compelling independent journalism from trusted local news sources like established newspapers had kept subscriber numbers growing despite the pressure on household budgets.

Many news subscribers "saw themselves as investing their community's well-being by supporting informative, trustworthy journalism".

"Being trusted not only makes us feel good about the work we do, it's also the glue that binds us to our subscribers," he said.