--- title: "Local news is playing an important role for Americans during COVID-19 outbreak" description: "Some 61% of U.S. adults say they follow COVID-19 news at both the national and local level equally, and 23% say they pay more attention to local news." date: "2020-07-02" authors: - name: "Elisa Shearer" job_title: "Senior Researcher" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/elisa-shearer/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/02/local-news-is-playing-an-important-role-for-americans-during-covid-19-outbreak/" categories: - "American News Pathways 2020 Project" - "COVID-19 & Politics" - "COVID-19 in the News" - "Local News" --- # Local news is playing an important role for Americans during COVID-19 outbreak [![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2003/06/View-Changing-World-2003-41.png?w=181)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2003/06/View-Changing-World-2003-41.png) [![Local news is playing an important role for Americans during COVID-19 outbreak](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FT_20.07.01_LocalNews_feature.jpg)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/02/local-news-is-playing-an-important-role-for-americans-during-covid-19-outbreak/daily-life-in-new-york-city-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-5/) *A woman wearing a mask and gloves reads a local newspaper on May 21, 2020, in New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)* [![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FT_20.07.02_COVIDlocalnews.png?w=200)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/02/local-news-is-playing-an-important-role-for-americans-during-covid-19-outbreak/ft_20-07-02_covidlocalnews/) The [COVID-19 outbreak](https://www.pewresearch.org/topics/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/) has been a major national news story, [dominating news consumption](https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/17/21182770/news-consumption-coronavirus-traffic-views) and [prompting frequent presidential press conferences](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/27/white-house-press-secretary-says-there-will-be-coronavirus-task-force-briefings-this-week-211534). But it is also an important *local* news story, with many Americans depending on their local media outlets for information about the outbreak. [collapsible icon="alt"] #### How we did this For this analysis of the role local news is playing in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, we surveyed 10,139 U.S. adults between April 20-26, 2020, and 9,654 U.S. adults between June 4-10, 2020. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way, nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the [ATP’s methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/methods/u-s-survey-research/american-trends-panel/). Here is the [methodology](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2020/03/11/election-news-pathways-methodology/) for the surveys used in this report. Visit our [interactive data tool](https://www.pewresearch.org/pathways-2020/COVIDNEWSPLAT_c/total_us_adults/us_adults) to access the questions included in this report, as well as content about the coronavirus outbreak and the 2020 presidential election. In the same survey, nearly half of U.S. adults (46%) named local news outlets as a major source for COVID-19 news – more than the share who named several other groups, including President Donald Trump and the coronavirus task force (31%). [![Nearly half of Americans say local news outlets are a major source of news about the coronavirus outbreak](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FT_20.07.02_COVIDlocalnews2.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/02/local-news-is-playing-an-important-role-for-americans-during-covid-19-outbreak/ft_20-07-02_covidlocalnews2/) Other local information sources were seen as important as well: For example, 36% of adults said state and local elected officials were a major source of news about the outbreak, while 16% said the same about friends, family and neighbors, and 8% named community newsletters or Listservs. In all, 64% of U.S. adults named at least one of these local information sources as a major source for coronavirus news. Americans also see local news outlets as more credible sources of COVID-19 information than the news media in general. In a survey conducted June 4-10, half of U.S. adults said their local news media get the facts right about the coronavirus outbreak almost all or most of the time, compared with 44% who said the same about the news media overall. Similarly, about half of Americans (53%) said their state and local governments get the facts right about COVID-19 all or most of the time. [![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FT_20.07.02_COVIDlocalnews3.png?w=310)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/07/02/local-news-is-playing-an-important-role-for-americans-during-covid-19-outbreak/ft_20-07-02_covidlocalnews3/) Black Americans are more likely than other adults to turn to local news organizations and to trust them to get the facts right about COVID-19. This aligns with two other, broader trends: Black Americans are [more closely following COVID-19 news topics](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/05/black-u-s-adults-follow-many-covid-19-news-topics-more-closely-discuss-the-outbreak-more-frequently/), and they are also more likely to [be interested in local news](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/08/07/facts-about-black-americans-and-the-news-media/) and to trust information from local news organizations more generally. Despite the [financial difficulties facing local newsrooms during the coronavirus outbreak](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-killing-local-news/608695/), Americans do not perceive a dearth of local news about the pandemic, according to the Center’s June survey. Nearly two-thirds of adults (65%) said there is plenty of news about how the outbreak is affecting their local area, versus a third who said there is not enough of this kind of news.