News Media Trends

In 2021, 11% of high-circulation newspapers experienced layoffs, compared with three times that share the year before (33%).

In recent years, several new options have emerged in the social media universe, many of which explicitly present themselves as alternatives to more established social media platforms. Free speech ideals and heated political themes prevail on these sites, which draw praise from their users and skepticism from other Americans.

41% of U.S. journalists who are employed at least part time at a news outlet say they would join a union if it were available to them.

55% of journalists surveyed say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news. 22% of Americans overall say the same.

The social media sites that journalists use most frequently for their jobs differ from those that the public turns to for news.  

Nearly 12,000 U.S.-based journalists in a pair of open-ended questions were asked to write down the one thing the news industry does the best job of these days and what it does worst.

A survey of U.S.-based journalists finds 77% would choose their career all over again, though 57% are highly concerned about future restrictions on press freedom.

Most of our research on the U.S. news environment has been from the viewpoint of the public, but this time we surveyed journalists themselves.

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.