Understanding where people turn for news, who they trust and what information they seek out (or avoid) is crucial for developing strategies to reach Americans across generations and differences with the information they need in their daily lives.

Additionally, knowing what young news consumers value is especially important for the sustainability of local news. It’s also essential to the health of our democracy because local news can often serve as an on-ramp to civic engagement.

The latest study from the Media Insight Project, The evolving news landscape: Comparing media habits and trust between teens and adults, sheds light on just that. And it’s unique in that it surveyed both adults and teens as young as 13.

The study’s findings likely align with news engagement behavior you’re already noticing at your news organization or hunches you have based on young people you know, but the data across age groups shows these shifts cannot be written off as a passing trend that younger generations will age out of.

As your local news organization works to engage across generations, keep in mind that about half of Americans say they actively try to avoid news, according to the study, and a third think local news is responsible for misinformation (though many more blame politicians and social media). Think creatively about building trust and reengaging people who share these perspectives.

Here are four key takeaways from the study and what they mean for local news:

The majority of American teens and adults get news from influencers, adding to a fragmented media landscape.

Survey says:

  • A majority of American teens and adults (57%) get news from “influencers” or “independent creators” at least sometimes.
  • Among teens ages 13-17, that number jumps to 81%.
  • Additionally, 57% of teens ages 13-17 say they get news from social media daily.
  • In contrast, 74% of adults 65 and older get their news from TV daily.
  • When looking at local news specifically, American teens and adults are most likely to get their local news from traditional outlets like TV, newspapers and radio. This is followed by local people they know personally.

What this means for local news: This report and other recent ones offer specific insights into how more people now seek news from independent creators. But the data here shows that, when it comes to local news, traditional outlets remain a critical resource, which suggests a valuable opportunity for collaboration between local news outlets and locally-focused independent creators.

Ask yourself:

  • Is our organization consistently present on the platforms where our target audiences get news?
  • Can we map and understand our local influencer landscape?
  • What potential independent creators or trusted messengers in our community could we collaborate with?
  • If collaboration isn’t right for us, what can we learn from these creators on how they use digital platforms and engage with their audiences?

Dig deeper:

Journalism’s authority is ‘less exclusive and more comparative,’ but local news is still viewed as the best place to get useful information.

Survey says:

  • American teens and adults view local news as the most trustworthy, though few Americans have a great deal of confidence in any of the four news sources in the study — local news, national news, independent creators and AI chatbots.
  • Older Americans tend to have greater trust in traditional news organizations. In contrast, younger Americans show similar levels of confidence in both traditional outlets and newer sources, like independent creators and AI chatbots.
  • The majority of Americans think local news organizations do 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.
  • There are splits across age groups here, with about a third of teens 13-17 and older adults thinking local news is doing extremely or very well at covering the most important issues in their community and getting the facts right. Among adults ages 18-49, only 2 in 10 think that local news does this extremely or very well.
  • Additionally, the largest portion of respondents (41%) said that local news is best at giving people useful information, when compared to national news, influencers and AI chatbots.

What this means for local news: Trust in local news organizations isn’t a given, and you can’t assume that your community will automatically give you more authority than other news sources.

Ask yourself:

  • How do you talk about your mission and how you do journalism?
  • How do people know you’re getting the facts right?
  • How are you listening to community members to understand their concerns and build trusting relationships with them?

Dig deeper:

The data across age groups shows these shifts cannot be written off as a passing trend that younger generations will age out of.

Most Americans pay for news or use a news service or product paid for by somebody else.

Survey says:

  • About 7 in 10 American teens and adults regularly use a paid news service or product.
  • More than half (56%) pay for or donate to the news sources themselves, while 23% use a service paid for by somebody else, and 12% both pay for news and use a news product paid for by someone else.
  • Americans ages 18-34 are the least likely (54%) to use a paid news service, either paid for themselves or by someone else.
  • Of those who share subscriptions, only 1 in 10 are sharing subscriptions for local or national newspapers, public radio, digital news sites, podcasts, newsletters or AI chatbots.
  • People who are avid hard-news followers are more likely to pay for newspapers, news sites and newsletters.

What this means for local news: While it’s positive that most people use paid news services or products, there are clear opportunities when you zoom in closer on the data: many people share subscriptions, but not necessarily across many news products, and there’s a dip in use of paid news from ages 18-35.

Ask yourself:

  • How are my organization’s memberships or subscriptions structured to account for the sharing behaviors people report?
  • How can we build relationships with people who share a subscription or are not yet paying for one themselves?
  • How are we communicating our value beyond hard news?
  • Are we creating content with our target age groups in mind? What data do we need to pay attention to to better understand their information needs?

Dig deeper:

The local news topics people follow most closely vary by age.

Survey says:

  • The most followed local topic across all ages was local weather or traffic (65%).
  • About half of American teens and adults (49%) also regularly follow local crime and public safety news.
  • The second-most common topic for teens ages 13-17 was local schools (40%).

What this means for local news: Weather and school coverage could provide an on-ramp for teens to become regular news consumers into adulthood. While all ages are interested in local weather and traffic news, when developing a content strategy, consider how this information is useful to people’s lives and planning their days, and how their days may differ depending on their age.

Ask yourself:

  • Is your school coverage geared toward teens, the audience most interested in it, or toward parents, teachers and administrators?
  • Is your weather and school coverage delivered in a way that interests your most-engaged audiences, and does it cater to the flow of their day?
  • How might a beat or coverage area change if you were targeting a younger audience? If you were to include that audience in the content creation?
  • How is your coverage of high-interest topics leading your audiences to other news and information that is useful to them?

Dig deeper:

The Evolving News Landscape: Comparing media habits and trust between teens and adults is the latest study from the Media Insight Project, a collaboration of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the American Press Institute, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and the Local News Network at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This study features a combined sample 1,092 respondents ages 18 and older and 1,009 respondents ages 13-17, both nationally representative.

The new survey’s large nationally representative sample provides a unique opportunity for a detailed analysis of America’s most diverse generations. This report from the study will examine the news behaviors and views of five distinct age groups: 13- to 17-year-olds, 18- to 34-year-olds, 35- to 49-year-olds, 50- to 64-year-olds, and adults 65 and older. The sample allows us to explore how new-related habits and views vary across different age groups.  

Download the study PDF here.

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