COVID-19 in the News

Americans inhabited different information environments, with wide gaps in how they viewed the election and COVID-19.

Among the six publicly traded newspaper companies studied, second-quarter advertising revenue fell by a median of 42% year over year.

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.

Among Republicans, opinions about the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. differ considerably by source of news.

About two-thirds of Republicans say the U.S. has controlled the outbreak as much as it could have; 88% of Democrats disagree.

U.S. adults in this group are less likely to get the facts right about COVID-19 and politics and more likely to hear some unproven claims.

Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak.

Those ages 18 to 29 differ from older Americans in their news consumption habits and in their responses to major news events and coverage.

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.

After three months of news and information, 64% of U.S. adults say the CDC mostly gets the facts about the outbreak right; 30% say the same about President Trump and his administration.