Most Americans say they often or sometimes get local political news, but only a quarter of them are highly satisfied with the quality of coverage. And fewer than half of U.S. adults say it is easy to find the information they need to make voting decisions in local elections.
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Social media is playing a crucial role in Americans’ news consumption. Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults say they regularly get news on Facebook. Slightly fewer (26%) regularly get news on YouTube.
In just three years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has more than quadrupled, from 3% in 2020 to 14% in 2023.
Newspapers are a critical part of the American news landscape, but they have been hard hit as more and more Americans consume news digitally.
The State of the News Media fact sheets use a range of different methodologies to study the health of the U.S. news industry, including custom analysis of news audience behavior, secondary analysis of industry data and direct reporting to solicit information unavailable elsewhere.
About three-quarters of Black adults in the United States say they see or hear news coverage about their local community at least sometimes.
In 2016, 51% of U.S. adults said they followed the news all or most of the time, but that share fell to 38% in 2022.
Black Americans see a range of problems with how Black people are covered in the news. Almost two-thirds of Black adults (63%) say news about Black people is often more negative than news about other racial and ethnic groups. And while few are optimistic that will change in the foreseeable future, many see ways in which that coverage could be improved.
Local TV companies generated more revenue in 2022 than in 2021, consistent with a cyclical pattern in which advertising revenue rises in election years and falls in non-election years.
In 2022, both prime-time and daytime cable news audiences increased for Fox News but decreased for CNN, MSNBC and Newsmax.
Financially, advertiser expenditures for the news programs of the three major networks have declined substantially since 2020.
Thousands of guests appeared on the top-ranked podcasts in 2022, but a relatively small number accounted for a majority of appearances. 76% of top-ranked podcasts brought on at least one guest in 2022, and 27% almost always or regularly featured guests.
Social media is playing a crucial role in Americans’ news consumption. Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults say they regularly get news on Facebook. Slightly fewer (26%) regularly get news on YouTube.
Black Americans see a range of problems with how Black people are covered in the news. Almost two-thirds of Black adults (63%) say news about Black people is often more negative than news about other racial and ethnic groups. And while few are optimistic that will change in the foreseeable future, many see ways in which that coverage could be improved.
As they watch the splashy emergence of generative artificial intelligence and an array of other AI applications, experts participating in a new Pew Research Center canvassing say they have deep concerns about people’s and society’s overall well-being. At the same time, they expect to see great benefits in health care, scientific advances and education
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