☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here!
In today’s email:
- Featured story: Trump order targets Voice of America, other government-funded news outlets
- In other news: NYT takes over 538’s polling database
- Looking ahead: ABC News pivots audio strategy to focus on true crime
- Chart of the week: Within each party, younger adults turn to different outlets for political news than older adults
🔥 Featured story
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order making major cuts to several federal agencies, including the Agency for Global Media – which funds Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. These news outlets, with roots in the fight against fascism and communism during the 20th century, broadcast around the world in dozens of languages.
Some lawmakers and activists have warned that the dismantling of these U.S.-government-funded outlets is particularly dangerous at a time when China is seeking to expand its global influence. A Pew Research Center survey from 2022 shows how Americans are thinking about this shift in influence. Nearly half of Americans (47%) say that the United States’ influence in the world has been getting weaker in recent years, while 19% say it has been getting stronger. In contrast, about two-thirds of U.S. adults say that China’s influence has been getting stronger in recent years.
📌 In other news
- The New York Times has taken over the 538 database that tracks public opinion polling
- Technology companies urge Trump administration to target Australian media bargaining laws
- India conducts antitrust raids on several global media organizations
- A look at how migrant-focused news organizations are responding to Trump policies
- Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing is stepping down
- Chicago Sun-Times reduces staff by 20% through buyouts
📅 Looking ahead
ABC News has announced a shift in its audio strategy, which will focus on true crime through new programs and a podcast companion to the long-running newsmagazine 20/20.
True crime is the most common topic of top-ranked podcasts in the U.S. A 2023 Center study found that almost a quarter (24%) of these podcasts were primarily about true crime. And our surveys have found that about a third of U.S. podcast listeners (34%) say they regularly listen to podcasts about true crime.
📊 Chart of the week
This week’s chart looks at Americans’ sources of political and election news. In a survey conducted last September, before the 2024 election, we found significant age differences within both major political parties in the sources people use for political news.
For example, about six-in-ten Republican adults under 30 (58%) said they use Fox News as a major or minor source of political and election news, compared with almost eight-in-ten Republicans ages 65 and older (79%). Meanwhile, younger Democrats were more likely than older Democrats to say they use The New York Times and The Washington Post as sources of political news.
👋 That’s all for this week.
The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by Anna Jackson.
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