American teens and adults hold more positive views of local news and get it from a variety of sources
Local news sources like local news outlets, local community organizations (churches, school groups), and local independent influencers or creators are widely used. About 3 in 4 Americans — teenagers and adults alike — say they get local news information from any of these three sources often or sometimes. Adults ages 65 and older (88%) are the most likely to get local news from any of these sources at least sometimes compared with 78% of those 50-64, 71% of those 35-49, 68% of those 18-34, and 79% of those 13-17. Democrats (77%) and Republicans (78%) rely on local news from at least one of these sources often or sometimes at nearly identical rates.
Local news outlets including television, newspapers, or radio are most commonly turned to by Americans ages 13 and older to get their local news sometimes or often. Word of mouth between family, friends, and neighbors (either online or in-person) is another important source. American teenagers and adults use sources like local independent creators or local community groups less often.
Adults over 65 are more likely than those ages 49 and younger to use local news outlets like television or radio. Alternatively, those 13-17 are more likely than older adults to get local news from local influencers or creators, indicating that reliance on local news influencers decreases with age.
Of the local news topics asked about, local weather or traffic is the most followed topic, with 65% of Americans ages 13 and older following regularly. About half of the public (49%) follow crime and public safety regularly, and 39% do the same with local government or politics. Nineteen percent don’t follow any local news topic regularly.
Among these three popular local news topics, adults 65 and older were more likely than all other age groups to follow these topics regularly. Teens 13-17 most commonly follow local weather and information about local school events. These findings suggest that topics like weather, school events, sports, and crime act as a potential gateway for introducing younger consumers to local news more broadly, perhaps even establishing the groundwork for teens to become regular consumers into adulthood.
Local news organizations are seen in a mostly positive light. Most teens and adults say local news organizations are doing at least somewhat well at verifying and getting facts right, covering the most important events and issues, being transparent, and offering different opinions and viewpoints, with about a quarter saying they are doing extremely or very well at all of these things.
When it comes to covering the issues that are most important to the community, 13- to 17-year-olds and adults over age 65 have the most faith in local news outlets. Adults ages 18-49 are less confident, with only 2 in 10 thinking that local news does this extremely or very well compared with about a third of teens and older adults. Similarly, 13- to 17-year-olds and adults ages 50 and older are more likely to think that local news does at least very well at getting facts correct. Again, adults ages 18-49 show more hesitancy. All age groups feel similarly about local news outlets’ ability to be transparent and offer different opinions about community events.
Among adults, Democrats have more faith than Republicans in local news’ ability to do all of the following: get the facts correct (34% vs. 20%), cover the most important issues (36% vs. 24%), be transparent (32% vs. 19%), and offer a wide range of viewpoints (25% vs. 18%).
