I’m teaching about 100 freshman and sophomore Mass Comm students this semester at the University of South Carolina. I actually have 260 students. But I figure, I might be “teaching” 100 of them. And one of the things we discuss often, is “where” and “how” they get their news and find out about local happenings.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project, contrary to much of the conventional understanding of how people learn about their communities, Americans turn to a wide range of platforms to get local news and information. Overall, the picture revealed by the data is that of a richer and more nuanced ecosystem of community news and information than researchers have previously identified.
More Americans report watching local TV news than any other source, which has led to widely held idea that people go there for most of their community news and information, says the report. But it finds that Americans tend to rely on the medium for just a few topics, mainly weather, breaking news, and to a lesser degree, traffic. These are the most widely followed local subjects. Yet consumers rely on other sources for most other local topics. Younger adults, moreover, rely on local television less, a fact that suggests more vulnerability for the medium in the future.
69% of Americans, however, say that if their local newspaper no longer existed, it would not have a major impact on their ability to keep up with information and news about their community.
Yet the data show that newspapers play a much bigger role in people’s lives than many may realize. Newspapers (both the print and online versions, though primarily print) rank first or tie for first as the source people rely on most for 11 of the 16 different kinds of local information asked about, more topics than any other media source. But most of these topics, many of which relate to civic affairs such as government, taxes, etc., are ones followed by fewer Americans on a regular basis.
Local TV draws a mass audience largely around a few popular subjects, while local newspapers attract a smaller cohort of citizens but for a wider range of civically oriented subjects.
For adults generally, the internet is a main source for information about restaurants and other local businesses, and it is tied with newspapers as a top source for material about housing, jobs and schools, areas that place a special value on consumer input. Yet, looking at the 79% of Americans who are online, the Internet is the first or second most relied-upon source for 15 of the 16 local topics examined.
While there are a variety of demographic dimensions that are linked to the way people get local news and information, the most striking is the difference between younger and older information consumers. Simply put, one generation into the web, older consumers still rely more heavily on traditional platforms while younger consumers rely more on the internet. Among adults under age 40, the web ranks first or ties for first for 12 of the 16 local topics asked about. For adults 40 or older, newspapers are the first preference for local news, TV and the Internet second and third.
This move by younger users to rely on the internet for local information puts considerable pressure on traditional news organizations. Even though most have moved aggressively online with ambitious websites and social media strategies, there is evidence in the data that people find specialty websites and search engines a preferable way find the local material they want.
The survey finds that both citizen-based information sources and some very old forms of media remain vital as well. Print newsletters, online listservs, and old-fashioned word of mouth are important means by which people learn in particular about community events and local schools.
In all, the majority of American adults use at least three different types of media every week to get news and information about their local community, and 15% rely on at least six different kinds of media weekly.
But nearly half of all American adults, 45%, say they do not even have a favorite local news source. Instead, in the modern local news information system, different media outlets, and platforms, are gaining footholds for specific topic areas.
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