The proportion of people who access news via print media has remained unchanged on 40pc, a report has found.

Research by the media watchdog Ofcom found that a similar percentage of the population obtain news from newspapers as from the web and mobile apps.

While some 4pc of people say they now access news on websites and apps – up from 32pc in 2013 – 40pc say they read newspapers to follow the news, a figure which is unchanged year on year.

The figures are contained in Ofcom’s News Consumption in the UK report which is published annually.

Despite a slight drop, TV remains the most popular way to consume news with 75pc of people tuning in during 2014, compared to 78pc in 2013.

Radio is seen by 36pc as a way of catching up on the news – up from 35pc from a year ago.

The report shows 16-24-year-olds are driving the increase in consuming news via the internet or apps.

Some 45pc of people in that age bracket said that websites or apps were their most important sources for news, up by half from 50pc in 2013.

The amount of news watched on TV also varies with age, with the over-55s watching an average of 196 hours of TV news each year, compared to 27 hours for 16-24 year olds.

And those aged over 55 are nearly twice as younger viewers likely to name a TV channel as their most important source of news – 65pc compared to 36pc in the 16-to-24s age range.

By contrast, younger people are ten times more likely than those aged 55 and over to access news on a mobile – 40pc compared to 4pc.

However despite younger people having easier access to news on apps and the web, one in 10 people aged 16-24 say they don’t follow the news at all compared to an average of 5pc across all adults.