News media industry body ThinkNewsBrands has responded to the 2024 University of Canberra Digital News Report: Australia, stating it paints a positive picture for the news publishing industry, despite media coverage that suggests it paints a bleak picture.

As ThinkNewsBrands views it, the focus on “news fatigue” and news avoidance is at odds with the actual expressed behaviours that the report reveals, including the revelation that over half of Australians (51%) are accessing news more than once a day - a 3 percentage point increase from last year.

"A closer look at the data in Digital News Report: Australia 2024 tells a much happier story than media coverage would suggest," said ThinkNewsBrands chief executive Vanessa Lyons. “The consumption figures in this report are really strong and show that Australians’ engagement with news is very healthy.”

ThinkNewsBrands pointed to a significant increase in news consumption among Baby Boomers, with a 7 percentage point rise since last year. News consumption was particularly strong among women and Gen Z, both groups seeing a 5 percentage point increase.

The consumption of national newspapers remained stable, regional and local newspapers saw a rise, but the proportion of people paying for online news dropped by 1 percentage point to 21%, while ongoing subscriptions remained stable at 11%.

According to National Australia Bank data, 37% of Australians have cut back on a streaming service in the past three months and 33% have trimmed spending on subscriptions for magazines, apps and other goods and products.

“The fact that payment for news has remained relatively stable in a cost-of-living crisis while we’re seeing cut backs on everything from streaming services to app subscriptions is a testament to how important news really is to Australians.”