Quarterly Update
A message from Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock · Subscribe ↗
Why we study news and information
Hello, and happy spring!
For almost three decades, Pew Research Center has studied how citizens stay informed in a rapidly changing media environment. We’ve documented how the internet has surpassed other pathways – first print and then television – as a primary source for news. We’ve also tracked declining trust and growing partisan divides in Americans’ views of the news media, along with the rise of alternative news sources.
Today, the information environment is in a period of huge upheaval. Social media is playing a much bigger role in Americans’ news diets, while many traditional media outlets have shed staff or folded altogether. At the same time, the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence holds promise and peril for information providers – including us.
We see this line of research as central to our mission and essential to the nation’s democracy. That’s why we’re thrilled to pursue this work with even more focus through the Pew-Knight Initiative, a new, five-year, $20 million partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
This long-term investment will enhance our ability to study the changing information environment from the vantage point of citizens themselves, with a particular focus on questions like:
- How are Americans adapting and reacting to shifts in the information environment?
- How are they distinguishing truth from misinformation?
- How are they finding information amid disruption in the media ecosystem?
We recently published our first report from this new collaboration, which rightly focuses on local news, as it is one of the most important ways citizens connect to civic life around them.
The goal of the Pew-Knight Initiative is for Pew Research Center to complement Knight Foundation’s deep industry knowledge with our own extensive understanding of how people are navigating a period of extraordinary disruption in the information environment. Together, we’ll empower news consumers, provide critical insights to news providers and advance research methods.
There’s much more to come from this long-term partnership in the months and years ahead, so stay tuned for future releases.
Best wishes,
Michael Dimock
President, Pew Research Center
Americans’ changing relationship with local news
The share of Americans who are paying close attention to local news has dropped, but there’s strong support in both parties for the value of local news and local journalists. More Americans are getting their local news online, while fewer are turning to television or print.
More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend seen on most other social media sites
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. Many Americans find value in getting news on social media, but concerns about inaccuracy have risen.
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.
The Role of Alternative Social Media in the News and Information Environment
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.
