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Americans’ relationship with local news is changing: More people are getting their news online and less are relying on sources like daily newspapers, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year. The survey is part of the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program jointly funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
But what remains consistent is that for most Americans, friends, family and neighbors are important sources of local news. In fact, when we asked, they were the most common source of local news, ranking higher than TV stations, radio stations and online forums like Facebook groups.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say they often or sometimes get their local news from friends, family or neighbors, followed by television stations at 64%. In 2018, friends and family were also common sources of local news, but had not yet surpassed television.
Friends, family, and neighbors are important sources of local news for the majority of Americans, regardless of age, political party, race, or ethnicity.
This Pew Research Center analysis explores how U.S. adults get their local news and information from friends, family and neighbors.
The survey was conducted among 5,146 U.S. adults between January 22-28, 2024. Everyone who completes the survey becomes a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP). The ATP is an online survey panel randomly drawn from addresses across the country. This methodology gives nearly every U.S. adult a chance of being selected. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, political party, education, and other categories. More information on the ATP survey methodology can be found here.
The questions, overview and methodology used for this analysis are as follows:
This is a Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program jointly funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The companion report can be found online at https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/.
How people get local news from people they know
Despite news consumption becoming increasingly digital, the exchange of local news among friends, family and neighbors still occurs primarily by word of mouth (in person or over the phone) rather than through social media, email or text message. The majority (62%) of those who get their local news from friends and family say they typically get this news by word of mouth.
This is down from 71% of Americans who said they got the news through word of mouth in 2018. Meanwhile, the share who get it via social media is growing from 17% in 2018 to 25% by 2024.
Get local news on a specific topic
Friends, family and neighbors also ranked highly as sources of information for the two most common local news topics: politics and crime. Nearly 1 in 7 Americans say they get their local government and local crime news from friends, family or neighbors, roughly the same percentage who say they get their local politics and crime news from news organizations.
Social interactions are also a common way Americans respond to local crime news.
Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults (73%) say they have talked about crime in their local community with friends, family or neighbors. This is significantly higher than the percentage who said they posted or shared it on social media or other online platforms (21%), talked to local officials or police (19%), or communicated with journalists (5%).
Most people (72%) who get news about local crime from friends, family or neighbors believe it is at least somewhat accurate, while only 10% say it is very accurate. Another 17% say it’s not very accurate or not at all accurate, and 10% say they’re not sure. The percentage of people who say it’s at least somewhat accurate is higher than the percentage who say the same about news from local apps like Nextdoor, social media, or local politicians.
Nearly one in five Americans (22%) say the information they get from friends, family or neighbors about local crime exaggerates the amount of crime in their area, and an additional 7% say their friends and family underestimate the amount of crime. Still, 52% say the information their friends and family give is mostly accurate.
Notes: The questions, summary, and methodology used for this analysis are as follows:
