Medill local news survey: Viewers still trust local news, but consumes it differently
Respondents have varying opinions on AI as younger people leave legacy media behind
Last month, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University released its second annual study on how viewers in the Chicago area consume and receive local news. The study provided valuable insights into trust, how viewers consume local news, and a significant issue: artificial intelligence (AI).
Surveyed across the fourteen-county Chicago DMA from the city to the suburbs, from Kenosha, Wis., to Portage, Ind., to Kankakee and DeKalb, the study reveals residents are relying more on smartphones and other devices to stay informed than traditional platforms of newspapers, television, and radio. Moreover, content creators (people who write on blogs and self-published sites like Substack) are more popular than local newspapers. When it comes to paying for or making donations to fund local news operations, however, many respondents took a pass.
The study also showed more residents trust local news than national news, and a mixed response on AI, as younger respondents felt more comfortable with the technology producing at least a portion of local news stories.
There is a tremendous shift in where residents get their news. Medill says it’s increasingly coming from smartphones, which made up two-thirds of those who responded, as opposed to those who said television (53 percent), radio (25 percent), tablets (17 percent), and newspapers/magazines (12 percent), and is being driven by younger people, who are adopting new technologies than their older counterparts are. While 73 percent of residents aged 60 and over still rely on television and 34 percent of them on radio to receive their news, among adults 18-29, the numbers drop to 35 percent and 21 percent respectively, as smartphone use was dominant (71 percent), and the number rises even higher among adults 30-44 (82 percent).
The survey also revealed that the area’s radio and TV stations struggle to drive viewers to their digital products, including their websites. While 47 percent said they regularly visit newspapers’ websites, that number drops to seventeen percent for local TV stations and thirteen percent for radio. All three legacy platforms also struggle to drive viewers to their YouTube channels, with fewer than ten percent surveyed saying they watch on the platform. All five local TV stations offer streaming channels that are accessible on various platforms.
“With the results of this survey, we can definitively say that smartphones are now the preferred choice to consume local news”, said Tim Franklin, Senior Associate Dean and Professor at Medill. “Frankly, I was surprised by how much the gap widened in a year, but we know we’re seeing more cord-cutting from linear television and more streaming of video content on phones. Just as the newspaper industry is in dire condition because readers abandoned print, the survey shows that local TV news is next in line. I’ve heard industry executives acknowledge this: Their business is in crisis, too.”
What’s worse for newspapers, more residents are getting news from content creators (30 percent) than from the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, and Daily Herald. In other words, the digital transformation of receiving local news is well underway.
Not surprisingly, Chicago-area residents continue to consume local news daily, with 52 percent checking in multiple times a day, and 85 percent of those surveyed engaging with local news operations at least once a week. However, the numbers skew older: 61 percent of those surveyed over the age of 60 follow local news, but drops to only 32 percent in the 18-29 demo – a sobering statistic as younger audiences don’t seem to be engaged with what’s going on in their communities.
“Young people aren’t consuming local news at the same rate that older generations do”, said Medill Professor and Associate Dean of Research, Stephanie Edgerly. “But this reality does not have to spell doom. It can be an opportunity for newsrooms to rethink and experiment with how local stories are told and delivered so that local news becomes indispensable to a new generation.”
Another issue the Medill survey looked at is the growing use and influence of artificial intelligence, or AI, in writing news articles. The results show that younger respondents are more comfortable with the technology for news gathering than their older counterparts. 48 percent of adults 18-29 seem to have no problem with it, but 58 percent of those surveyed older than 60, were more uncomfortable. However, 38 percent of the 18-29 demo were comfortable with news produced by humans with AI assistance.
Overall, 52 percent of those surveyed were not comfortable and seventeen percent were comfortable with local news produced by AI with some human oversight. By comparison, 23 percent were not comfortable (and 47 percent were comfortable) with stories written by human journalists with limited AI help, proving the technology is polarizing when it comes to public trust.
“People are uncomfortable with AI doing most of the news work,” said Edgerly. “But if journalists are doing most of the work, while AI tidies up the edges, people are more accepting of that practice. This means that news organizations need to have clear policies about how they are using AI technology, and they need to clearly communicate this to their audience.”
Among other findings:
– In what could be bad news for non-profit and donation-based publications, only fifteen percent of respondents say they routinely don’t pay for local news, with higher-income people more likely to pay.
– Consumers find local news less stressful to watch than national news, which is dominated by the daily activities of President Trump’s administration. They find local news more uplifting with more positive stories in their communities – something national or international news cannot replicate.
– Among Black consumers, 65 percent consume news once or multiple times a day, ahead of white and Latino respondents. However, only twelve percent said they would support funding news, with Latino audiences at nine percent. Of note, only thirty percent of Black audiences felt uncomfortable with news being mostly produced by AI with some human assistance, while half the number of white respondents said. 44 percent said they are comfortable with news written by a human journalist with some help from AI, with 49 percent of whites and 45 percent of Latinos stating likewise.
– 48 percent of respondents support the idea of the government providing local news outlets with tax credits to fund their operations, with 62 percent stating they are on sound footing financially, with the same number not knowing many local news operations are struggling.
– 51 percent of Chicago-area respondents said they trust local media to get news right, with a third neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and fifteen percent disagreeing. 63 percent of respondents agree that Chicago-area local news operations are still relevant.
The study was published before President Trump stepped up immigration efforts in the Chicago area, resulting in violent crashes at an ICE facility in west suburban Broadview, and chaotic arrests all over the city and suburbs. Many observers have accused national news operations of ignoring the news making headlines here, but praised local outlets for their work – especially hyperlocal, donation-based publications such as Block Club Chicago, The Triibe, and others. And while the study notes that local news is “less stressful”, the events of the last month don’t seem that way, as what’s going on with many of these arrests is indeed heartbreaking.
To read the entire Medill Journalism study, click here to go to the T Dog Media Slideshare page.