“Fake” news appears to be driving readers to local news web sites.

More and more of them say they trust local newspaper and broadcast sites and are willing to pay to see their news.

US consumers who paid for news nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that 16% of Americans surveyed said they paid for news, 8% bought subscriptions and another 8% made one-time buys.

In contrast, in Norway 15% had subscriptions and 11% made one-time buys.

The Pew Research Center in 2017 showed 50% of Americans often got news on TV and 43% online, a 7-point gap in contrast to a 19-point gap in 2016.

Online news may be helping the journalism industry.

A 2017 Poynter Media Trust Survey measured the highest rise in media confidence since Sept. 11, 2001.

The researchers found that Americans are more willing to pay for their news through digital subscriptions to online newspapers and magazines they trust.

Amazingly, a big part of this is by young consumers.

In 2017, the number of young Americans 18–24 who paid for news rose from 4% to 18%.

The number of those 25–34 rose from 8% to 20%.

Of readers in 36 countries surveyed by Reuters, the US had the highest proportion who said they paid for news because they wanted to fund journalism – 29%.

Many newspapers such as the Chronicle that publish investigative journalism showed increases in readership and subscribers.

“Website visits are up 62% since we launched our new site www.Lexington-Chronicle.com,” Chronicle Subscription Manager Katie Ritchie said.

“Our website had a surge in traffic in May from folks wanting to see what we were replacing, but we’ve kept the traffic boost in June.

“Including those on the free trial, our subscribers have doubled.”