How Americans Get Local Political News
Most U.S. adults follow news about local government and politics, yet only a quarter are highly satisfied with the quality of coverage.
Michael Lipka
Associate Director, Research
Michael Lipka is an associate director of research at Pew Research Center, where he studies Americans’ experiences with news and information. Over more than a decade at the Center, he has been a part of several major projects related to the information environment, including our survey of U.S. journalists and our studies of podcasts, Black Americans’ experiences with news, and alternative social media. Michael also spent several years writing about trends in religion in the U.S. and globally, contributing to dozens of reports and short reads on various topics. He has a degree in journalism from Boston University and started his career as a sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the Associated Press.
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Americans have mixed views about how the news media cover Biden’s, Trump’s ages
Similar shares of U.S. adults believe news organizations are giving too much attention (32%) or too little attention (29%) to Biden’s age.
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Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News
More Americans now prefer to get local news online, while fewer turn to TV or print. And most say local news outlets are important to their community.
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How Hispanic Americans Get Their News
U.S.-born Latinos mostly get their news in English and prefer it in English, while immigrant Latinos have much more varied habits.
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8 facts about Black Americans and the news
76% of Black adults say they at least sometimes get news on TV, compared with 62% of both White and Hispanic adults and 52% of Asian adults.
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8 facts about atheists
Around six-in-ten U.S. atheists are men (64%). And seven-in-ten are ages 49 or younger, compared with about half of U.S. adults overall (52%).
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Audiences are declining for traditional news media in the U.S. – with some exceptions
A declining share of U.S. adults are following the news closely, and audiences are shrinking for several older types of news media.
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How Black Americans engage with local news
About three-quarters of Black adults in the United States say they see or hear news coverage about their local community at least sometimes.
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Black Americans’ Experiences With News
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.
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Podcasts as a Source of News and Information
Roughly half of U.S. adults say they have listened to a podcast in the past year, including one-in-five who report listening at least a few times a week. Most podcast listeners say this experience includes hearing news, which they largely expect to be mostly accurate. Large shares of listeners say they turn to podcasts for entertainment, learning or having something to listen to while doing something else.
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