How Young Adults Get News and Information About Their

Local Communities

I/S: Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 2012 Symposium

March 29-30, 2012Ohio State University

Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.Associate Director, Pew Internet

• Part of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” based in Washington, DC that provides high quality, objective data to thought leaders and policymakers

• PRC is funded primarily by the Pew Charitable Trusts

• Data for this talk is from nationally representative telephone survey of 2,251 U.S. adults age 18+ (on landlines and cell phones) conducted in January 2011

• The survey was done in partnership with Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, and was funded by the Knight Foundation

What Makes This Study Unique?

Past research asked a single question:

“Where do you go most often to get local news?”

We asked:

“What source do you rely on most?” for 16 different local topics

___________________________________

“Local newspaper” = print and web version

“TV news” = broadcast and website

“Internet” = web-only sources such as search engines, special topic sites, and social networking sites

The local news ecosystem is nuanced and complex; people rely on different platforms for different topics

Local TV remains the most used source for local news, yet adults rely on it primarily for just 3 subjects—weather, breaking news and traffic

Adults turn to local newspapers for a wider range of topics than any other source, yet for topics followed by fewer people

The internet is now the top source on subjects such as education, local businesses and restaurants/bars/clubs

Overall Headlines from the Local News Survey

For the 79% of adults who go online, the internet is the 1st or 2nd most relied-upon source for 15 of 16 local topics

For adults under 40, the web ranks first for 11 of the top 16 topics—and a close second on four others

The most popular local topics…

weather (89%)breaking news (80%)local politics (67%)

crime (66%)

The least popular…

government activities (42%) local job openings (39%)

social services (35%)zoning and development (30%)

Popular Local Topics

% Who Ever Get Information About Each Local Topic

Local politics, elections, campaigns (71%)

Other local government activity (48%)

Crime (70%)

Arts/Cultural events (62%)

Restaurants, clubs, bars (53%)

Taxes and tax issues (51%)

Zoning, development (35%)

Local politics, elections, campaigns (55%)

Other local government activity (23%)

Crime (53%)

Arts/Cultural events (53%)

Restaurants, clubs, bars (65%)

Taxes and tax issues (32%)

Zoning, development (16%)

Age 18-29 Age 30+

Source by Topic:The Preferred Source for 16 Local News Topics

Disruption Lies Ahead

restaurantslocal businesses

weatherpoliticscrime

arts/cultural eventslocal businesses

schoolscommunity events

restaurantstraffictaxes

housinglocal government

jobssocial services

zoning/development

Age 18-39 Age 40+

The internet is the main

source for these

topics

Young Adults Differ In Many Other Respects

76% follow local news closely most of the time

73% follow national news closely most of the time

61% enjoy keeping up with the news “a lot”

59% have a favorite local news source

37% have a paid subscription to a local print newspaper

9% have a mobile app that helps them get information about their

local community

57% follow local news closely most of the time

53% follow national news closely most of the time

35% enjoy keeping up with the news “a lot”

41% have a favorite local news source

16% have a paid subscription to a local print newspaper

18% have a mobile app that helps them get information about their

local community

Age 18-29 Age 30+

% Who Get Local News Weekly From Each Source

PRINT local paper (44%)

Local TV broadcast (75%)

Website about local community (8%)

Person or organization you follow on a social networking

site (9%)

Word of mouth (53%)

Internet search (37%)

PRINT local paper (28%)

Local TV broadcast (57%)

Website about local community (17%)

Person or organization you follow on a social networking

site (19%)

Word of mouth (64%)

Internet search (56%)

Age 18-29 Age 30+

Mobile is Slowly Becoming a Local News Source

47% of adults use mobile devices to get local news and information of some kind, yet it’s still largely

supplemental

Among 18-29 year-olds, 70% get local news and information on their mobile devices

18-29 year-olds have more varied local news toolkits…..

8% use traditional local sources only (31% of older adults)

19% use traditional + online local sources (27% of older adults)

63% use traditional + online + mobile (33% of older adults)

2% use online and/or mobile only (1% of older adults)

41% of Adults are “Local News Participators”

25% share links to local stories/videos

16% comment on local news stories or blogs they read online

16% post news or info about their local community on a social networking site like

Facebook

8% contribute to online discussions or message boards about their community

6% “tag” online local news content

5% contribute articles, opinion pieces, photos or videos about their local community online

2% post news or info about their local community on Twitter

SNS are not yet a main source for local info

Social networks ranked highest as a main source for…

local restaurants (2%)

community events (2%)

55% of 18-29 year-olds are local news participators

Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.Associate Director, Research

Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

kpurcell@pewinternet.org

Twitter: @pewinternet

@kristenpurcell

All data available at pewinternet.org