Local Newspapers Fact Sheet
Local newspapers have been hit particularly hard by the transition to digital news consumption in recent years, with many forced to shutter their doors permanently.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Local newspapers have been hit particularly hard by the transition to digital news consumption in recent years, with many forced to shutter their doors permanently.
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.
Nonprofit news reporters now account for 20% of the nation’s total statehouse press corps, up from 6% eight years ago.
In recent years, several new options have emerged in the social media universe, many of which explicitly present themselves as alternatives to more established social media platforms. Free speech ideals and heated political themes prevail on these sites, which draw praise from their users and skepticism from other Americans.
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.
About half (48%) of U.S. adults say they get news from social media “often” or “sometimes,” a 5 percentage point decline compared with 2020. More than half of Twitter users get news on the site regularly.
The declining public trust in the news media and polarization of news audiences have profound effects on civic life.
The total number of journalists assigned to state capitol buildings is up 11% since 2014, though figures vary widely by state. And as newspapers employ fewer statehouse reporters, nonprofits are filling much of the void.
Though this figure is a sliver of all PPP loans lent out to small businesses as of August, it represents a large segment of U.S. newspaper companies.
In March 2020, about three-quarters (74%) of public Facebook posts about COVID-19 linked to news organizations, while just 1% linked to health and science sites.
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