03/28/2019

Most Americans Are Unaware Of The Local News Crisis: Pew

Social media has changed the way people consume news

The media industry is facing some tough headwinds. The meteoric rise of social media has changed the way that people consume news–and many of the small outlets have had difficulty adapting. Most digital ad revenue has funneled toward giants like Google and Facebook, while print revenue has seen a steep decline. As a result, most media companies have had trouble remaining sustainable due to these tectonic shifts. None of this, mind you, is news to anyone who works in the industry. But it turns out the perception beyond our bubble is quite different.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center, which queried over 34,000 people, shows that most Americans think local news is doing just fine. Writes Pew: “About seven-in-ten say their local news media are doing either somewhat or very well financially (71 percent), while about a quarter say their local news organizations are not doing well (24 percent).”

And there’s, of course, an ironic twist. Despite the fact that most of the respondents believe local news to be thriving, hardly anyone said they paid for such content. “When asked if they had paid or given money in the past year to any local news source–by either subscribing, donating, or becoming a member–84 percent of Americans said no; 14 percent said yes,” writes Pew. The report adds that those who prefer social media as their vehicle for consuming local news had the highest percentage (90 percent) of people who did not pay for local outlets.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.