Fact Tank - News In Numbers | Pew Research Center

By Michael Barthel

Every year since 2004, Pew Research Center has issued an assessment of the state of the news media, tracking key audience and economic indicators for a variety of sectors within the U.S. journalism industry. Here are some key findings about the state of the industry in 2018:

1U.S. newspaper circulation reached its lowest level since 1940, the first year with available data. Total daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) was an estimated 28.6 million for weekday and 30.8 million for Sunday in 2018. Those numbers were down 8% and 9%, respectively, from the previous year, according to the Center’s analysis of Alliance for Audited Media data. Both figures are now below their lowest recorded levels, though weekday circulation first passed this threshold in 2013.

Digital circulation for daily newspapers is harder to track. It did rise in 2018, though not enough to fully reverse the overall decline in circulation.

Revenue from circulation was steady in 2018, but ad revenue for newspapers fell 13%, according to an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Though some national publications have seen growth in revenue and in digital subscriptions over the past few years, the newspaper sector overall continues to face challenges.

2Cable news was a bright spot in another down year for the U.S. news media industry’s economic fortunes. Revenue rose 4% over the past year for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC combined, according to estimates from Kagan, a media research group. That made cable news one of the only sectors with a revenue increase in 2018.

Cable news revenue has grown by roughly a third (36%) since 2015, with ad revenue up 58% over the same period. And unlike some other sectors that typically see revenue declines in non-election years, cable news has been on a steady rise since the 2016 election. Some of this revenue has flowed back into newsroom spending, which has risen 22% since 2015. However, employment in cable TV newsrooms has not risen, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and neither have wages.

3Digital ad revenue has grown exponentially, but a majority goes to Facebook and Google rather than to publishers. Revenue from ads placed on digital platforms – counting all platforms, not just news sites – rose by 23% in 2018, and now makes up nearly half (49%) of all ad revenue in the U.S., according to eMarketer estimates. And when it comes to display ad revenue – a form of digital advertising that include banners, videos and other advertisements that news organizations and other websites typically run alongside their content – half of all digital revenue went to just two tech companies: Facebook (40%) and Google (12%). Overall digital ad revenue has tripled since 2011, the earliest year tracked, while digital display revenue has grown by almost five times over the same period.

This growth in digital ad revenue has not been enough to make up for the decline in traditional ad revenue for some sectors. About a third of newspaper ad revenue (35%) now comes from digital, according to an analysis of SEC filings, but total ad revenue continues to fall. And while the digital-native news sector is on the rise – its newsroom workforce has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, according to BLS data – this growth hasn’t replaced the loss of employment at newspapers.

4The audience for local TV news has steadily declined. The average audience fell in key time slots in 2018, down 10% for morning news and 14% for late night and evening news, according to Comscore StationView Essentials® data. (This data is based on live viewing on TV sets and does not account for these stations’ websites or social media presences – though some research indicates that most local TV news consumers prefer the TV set to online forms.) This has been a longstanding trend, with declines in 2017 and, using a different data source, from 2007 to 2016.

Over-the-air ad revenue for local TV did rise 12% in 2018, to $19.3 billion, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of MEDIA Access Pro & BIA Advisory Services data, but this is typical for a midterm election year and roughly equal to the amount in 2014.

Local TV’s audience decline was the steepest drop of any sector. Only cable news saw its audience rise in 2018.

5Traffic to news websites seems to have leveled off. Unique visitors to the websites of both newspapers and digital-native news sites showed no growth between the fourth quarters of 2017 and 2018, the second year in which there was no notable growth, according to Comscore, a cross-platform audience measurement company. From 2014 to 2016, traffic rose steadily for both these sectors in the fourth quarter.

Time spent on these websites has declined as well: The average number of minutes per visit for digital-native news sites is down 16% since 2016, falling from nearly two and a half minutes to about two per visit. The decreases in website audience and time spent per visit come as Americans increasingly say they prefer social media as a pathway to news.

To learn more: Explore all eight fact sheets on the state of the news media and the methodologies used to compile them.

Topics:

Newspapers News Media Trends State of the News Media News Media Sectors

By Hannah Gilberstadt

Street art of former special counsel Robert Mueller at a Washington, D.C., construction site. Most Republicans now say they’re confident Mueller conducted a fair investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

As former Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller prepares to testify before Congress, nearly two-thirds of Americans – including, for the first time, a majority of Republicans – say they are confident he conducted a fair investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The public is far less confident that the Trump administration is taking action to prevent Russia from influencing future U.S. elections. About half of Americans (46%) are very or somewhat confident that the administration is making a serious effort to block future Russian influence, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Republicans’ views of Mueller’s investigation, which were generally negative over the probe’s two-year course, are much more positive now that it has been completed. Six-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents now say they are confident in the fairness of the investigation. In January, just 39% of Republicans said they were confident Mueller was conducting a fair inquiry.

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Topics:

Federal Government U.S. Political Parties

By Becka A. Alper

Many Americans say that religion is very important in their lives. But how much do people in the U.S. actually know about their faith tradition – or about religions besides their own?

A new report from Pew Research Center tries to answer this question by asking U.S. adults 32 fact-based questions about a variety of religious topics. The survey includes questions about the Bible and Christianity, as well as atheism, agnosticism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Respondents also were asked about religious demographics.

The average U.S. adult is able to answer slightly fewer than half of the religious knowledge questions correctly (14.2 of the 32). But the survey finds that Americans’ level of knowledge varies based on who is answering the questions.

Here are key findings from the report:

Before you read this

Test your religious knowledge by taking an interactive quiz. The short quiz includes some questions recently asked in the nationally representative survey that forms the basis of this report. After completing the quiz, you can see how you did in comparison with the general public and with people like yourself.

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1Most Americans are familiar with some of the basics of Christianity, and even know a few facts about Islam. But fewer get questions right about Judaism, Hinduism or Buddhism. Eight-in-ten U.S. adults know that in the Christian tradition, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus – rather than the Crucifixion, the Ascension to heaven or the Last Supper. A similar share know the Christian doctrine of the Trinity holds that there is one God in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And six-in-ten know that Ramadan is an Islamic holy month and that Mecca is Islam’s holiest city. However, just one-quarter of Americans know that Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year. Roughly one-in-five Americans (18%) know that the “truth of suffering” is part of Buddhism’s four “noble truths,” and 15% correctly identify the Vedas as Hindu texts. Read More →

Topic:

Religious Beliefs and Practices

By Lee Rainie and Andrew Perrin

Many Americans see declining levels of trust in the country, whether it is their confidence in the federal government and elected officials or their trust of each other, a new Pew Research Center report finds. And most believe that the interplay between the trust issues in the public and the interpersonal sphere has made it harder to solve some of the country’s problems. This research is part of the Center’s ongoing focus on issues tied to trust, facts and democracy. Here are some of the key takeaways from these findings:

1Americans think the public’s trust has been declining in both the federal government and in their fellow citizens. Three-quarters of Americans say that their fellow citizens’ trust in the federal government has been shrinking, and 64% believe that about peoples’ trust in each other.

When asked a separate question about the reasons why trust has declined in the past 20 years, people offer a host of reasons in their written answers. Those who think there has been a decline of trust in the federal government over these two decades often see the problem tied to the government’s performance: 36% of those who see the decline cite this. Some worry the government is doing too much, others say too little, and others mention the government doing the wrong things or nothing at all. Respondents also cite concerns about how money has corrupted it and how corporations control the political process. President Donald Trump and his administration are mentioned in 14% of answers, and a smaller share lays the blame on Democrats. Additionally, 10% of those who see decline lay fault at the feet of the news media.

Those who think interpersonal trust has declined in the past generation offer a laundry list of societal and political problems, including a sense that Americans on the whole have become more lazy, greedy and dishonest. Some respondents make a connection between what they think is poor government performance – especially gridlock in Washington – and the toll it has taken on their fellow citizens’ hearts. Overall, 49% of adults think interpersonal trust has been tailing off because people are less reliable than they used to be. Read More →

Topics:

Trust, Facts and Democracy Federal Government Trust in Institutions Social Values

By John LaLoggia

(Photo by Cliff Grassmick/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images)

Most Americans, including majorities of both Republicans and Democrats, see higher education as a gateway to good job opportunities.

However, a recent Pew Research Center survey finds that Republicans are much more skeptical than Democrats when it comes to whether colleges and universities are open to different points of view. This partisan gap is not just limited to views of these institutions – Republicans also are less likely than Democrats to see community colleges and K-12 public schools as open to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints.

Overall, about two-thirds of Americans (68%) say colleges and universities are very or somewhat open to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints; 31% say they are not too or not at all open. But among Republicans and those who lean to the Republican Party, 44% believe colleges and universities are at least somewhat open to a wide range of views. Democrats and Democratic leaners are nearly twice as likely (87%) to feel this way.

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Topics:

College Political Polarization Trust in Institutions Education

By Bruce Drake and Jocelyn Kiley

President Donald Trump holds a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, on July 17. Hours earlier, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected an effort by a Texas Democrat to impeach the president, in part over a history of “inciting hate and hostility” and “sowing discord.” (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on four first-term lawmakers – all women of color – triggered an impassioned response from House Democrats, who overwhelmingly backed a House resolution condemning the president’s remarks. This is just the latest chapter in a long-running debate over what language is appropriate in political debates in the United States. A recent Pew Research Center survey examined Americans’ attitudes about this topic, including Trump’s impact on political discourse and the potential risks from incendiary rhetoric from elected officials:

1Large majorities of Americans say the tone and nature of political debate in the United States has become more negative in recent years. More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (85%) say that political debate in the country has become more negative and less respectful, according to a survey conducted this spring. About three-quarters (76%) say it has become less fact-based and 60% say it has become less focused on issues.

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Topics:

Political Polarization Political Attitudes and Values

By Claire Brockway and Carroll Doherty

A majority of Americans (62%) continue to say the country’s openness to people from around the world is “essential to who we are as a nation.”

But the share expressing this view is 6 percentage points lower than it was in September – a result of a shift in opinion among Republicans. Democrats continue to overwhelmingly take the view that openness is an essential characteristic of the nation.

Currently, 57% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say that if the United States is too open to people from around the world, “we risk losing our identity as a nation.” Fewer (37%) say America’s openness to those from other countries is essential to who we are as a nation, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted July 10-15 among 1,502 adults.

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Topics:

Immigration Attitudes Political Polarization Immigration National and Cultural Identity

By Courtney Johnson

Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. in a photo taken by fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969, the day of their historic landing on the moon. (NASA/Getty Images)

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which was the first time humans set foot on the moon. The United States remains the only country to have put people on the moon, and, as of 2018, the large majority of Americans consider it essential that the U.S. continue to be a leader in space exploration. However, many Americans do not think future manned trips to the moon – or to Mars – should be a high priority for NASA. Instead, they put higher priority on other roles such as monitoring Earth’s climate or asteroids that could hit Earth.

Here are six Pew Research Center findings about Americans’ views of space travel.

1Most Americans think sending astronauts to Mars or the moon should be a lower priority for NASA – or say it should not be done at all. While a majority of Americans (58%) said in a 2018 survey that human astronauts are essential to the future of the U.S. space program, less than one-in-five describe sending human astronauts to Mars (18%) or the moon (13%) as top priorities for NASA. Americans are more likely to rate these goals as “important but lower priorities” (45% and 42%, respectively), or to say they are not important or should not be done at all (37% and 44%).

NASA has not put a human on the surface of the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. But just last month, NASA announced plans to put the first woman on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis program. The program also aims to put human beings on the surface of Mars by the 2030s.

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Topics:

Federal Government Science and Innovation

By Courtney Kennedy

Pew Research Center conducts polls in many countries other than the United States. But the methodology behind our international surveys can vary from country to country, and what works in one place might not work in another.

In the latest installment of our Methods 101 video series, we look at some of the challenges of international polling. These include government restrictions on survey work, political or social instability that can make it unsafe for interviewers to do their jobs, and a lack of qualified partners who can help administer surveys locally.

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Topics:

International Survey Methods Research Methods

By Michael Lipka and Samirah Majumdar

Pew Research Center just published its 10th annual report analyzing restrictions on religion (by both governments and individuals or groups in society) around the world. This year’s report differs from past reports because it focuses on changes that have occurred over the course of a decade, covering 2007 to 2017, rather than emphasizing year-to-year variations. Another new approach this year involves splitting each of two broad types of religious restrictions – government restrictions and social hostilities – into four subcategories. This provides a clearer picture of the specific types of religious restrictions that people face – and how they are changing over time.

Here are key findings from the report:

1Government restrictions on religion have increased globally between 2007 and 2017 in all four categories studied: favoritism of religious groups, general laws and policies restricting religious freedom, harassment of religious groups, and limits on religious activity. The most common types of restrictions globally have consistently been the first two. Governments often enshrine favoritism toward a certain religious group or groups in their constitutions or basic laws. And general laws and policies restricting religious freedom can cover a wide range of restrictions, including a requirement that religious groups register in order to operate. But one of the more striking increases involved the category of government limits on religious activities, which can include limits or requirements on religious dress. The global mean score in this category rose by about 44% between 2007 and 2017.

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Topics:

Religion and Society Restrictions on Religion International Governments and Institutions

NEWS IN THE NUMBERS

5 key takeaways about the state of the news media in 2018

For the first time, majority of Republicans express confidence in the fairness of Mueller’s investigation

6 facts about what Americans know about religion

Before you read this

Republicans have doubts that colleges, K-12 schools are open to range of viewpoints

Americans say the nation’s political debate has grown more toxic and ‘heated’ rhetoric could lead to violence

Growing share of Republicans say U.S. risks losing its identity if it is too open to foreigners

How Americans see the future of space exploration, 50 years after the first moon landing

How is polling done around the world?

How religious restrictions around the world have changed over a decade

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