Pew Research Center Releases 'Local News In A Digital Age' Report

Study

The PEW RESEARCH CENTER's "Local News in a Digital Age" report, released THURSDAY (3/6), found that TV remains the top local news source but the Internet has made inroads, especially in larger, more digitally-savvy markets.  Still, newspaper use has declined and "nontraditional news outlets," defined as "neighborhood associations, government agencies or officials, or digital-only outlets," remain a minor percentage of local news usage.  And ten percent of respondents say they have called into a local radio or TV show in the past year.

The study, which focused on DENVER, MACON, and SIOUX CITY and included separate methodologies for each market, found that the greatest disparity was not between the differently-digital metros but within them, namely race and ethnicity, which showed minority populations -- Hispanics in DENVER, African-Americans in MACON -- more likely to closely follow local news than white respondents.

Local radio news tends to trail local TV and the major daily local newspaper in each market as a source for local news.  Observing DENVER, the study noted that radio "stood out during the time period studied for being the only segment of the media to present interviews with any of the candidates" in a primary election, including iHEARTMEDIA News-Talk KHOW-A/DENVER's MANDY CONNELL airing eight segments, six of which included interviewing three of the Republican gubernatorial candidates, and KGNU with a discussion between two Democrats running for State Board of Education.

And COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO was cited for "a different type of in-depth reporting that was not found elsewhere," going in-depth on specific topics on the air and on the "COLORADO MATTERS" podcast, while the MACON and SIOUX CITY NPR affiliates "offered very little local news."

Read the study by clicking here.

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