Local News

The Pew-Knight Initiative will deliver a comprehensive, real-time look at the information landscape from the standpoints of both consumers and producers of news.

76% of Black adults say they at least sometimes get news on TV, compared with 62% of both White and Hispanic adults and 52% of Asian adults.

A declining share of U.S. adults are following the news closely, and audiences are shrinking for several older types of news media.

About three-quarters of Black adults in the United States say they see or hear news coverage about their local community at least sometimes.

Local TV companies generated more revenue in 2022 than in 2021, consistent with a cyclical pattern in which advertising revenue rises in election years and falls in non-election years.

Local newspapers have been hit particularly hard by the transition to digital news consumption in recent years, with many forced to shutter their doors permanently.

In Missouri, 51% of all reporters covering the state capitol this year – 26 of 51 – are students.

Nonprofit news reporters now account for 20% of the nation’s total statehouse press corps, up from 6% eight years ago.

The total number of journalists assigned to state capitol buildings is up 11% since 2014, though figures vary widely by state. And as newspapers employ fewer statehouse reporters, nonprofits are filling much of the void.

There are 245 newspaper reporters who cover the statehouse full time in 2022 in the United States, down from 374 in 2014.