"In local news deserts in the U.S., residents rely heavily on social media and other nonjournalistic sources to stay informed, according to a comprehensive survey by the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. The survey revealed that among people who consume news daily in news deserts, a little more than half (51%) said they get local news from nonjournalistic sources, like social media groups, influencers and friends and family."
"The survey, conducted for Medill by the national polling firm Qualtrics, asked respondents which local news sources they relied upon. The results showed that among news desert dwellers, there was a strong preference for social media news groups (e.g., Facebook groups and Nextdoor) and local television news. About four in 10 people (42%) said they accessed social news groups daily, and they reported the same figure (41%) for local TV news."
In U.S. local news deserts, residents rely heavily on social media and nonjournalistic sources for local news. Among daily news consumers in these areas, 51% use nonjournalistic sources such as social media groups, influencers, and friends and family, slightly more than those relying on news organizations. Social media news groups and local television are the most-used sources (42% and 41% daily), followed by search engines (35%), friends and family (33%), and influencers (30%). Residents in news deserts consume news at nearly the same rate as those in served areas but trust the news media far less (46% versus 59%), seldom speak to journalists, and subscribe to news organizations far less often, indicating a fraying relationship with local journalism.
Read at Poynter
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]