Associate Director for Research Kristen Purcell will be discussing Pew Internet's groundbreaking data on local news information ecosystems at Ohio State's Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society's 2012 symposium, “The Future of Online Journalism: News, Community and Democracy in the Digital Age.”

1. How Young Adults Get
News and Information About
Their Local Communities
Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Pew Internet
I/S: Journal of Law and Policy for the
Information Society 2012 Symposium
March 29-30, 2012
Ohio State University

2. • 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

3. 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

4. Overall Headlines from the Local News Survey
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
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

5. Popular Local Topics
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%)

6. % Who Ever Get Information About Each Local Topic
Age 18-29 Age 30+
Local politics, elections, Local politics, elections,
campaigns (55%) campaigns (71%)
Other local government Other local government
activity (23%) activity (48%)
Crime (53%) Crime (70%)
Arts/Cultural events (53%) Arts/Cultural events (62%)
Restaurants, clubs, bars Restaurants, clubs, bars
(65%) (53%)
Taxes and tax issues (32%) Taxes and tax issues (51%)
Zoning, development (16%) Zoning, development (35%)

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

8. Disruption Lies Ahead
Age 18-39 Age 40+
weather
politics restaurants
crime local businesses
arts/cultural events The
local businesses internet
schools
is the
community events
restaurants main
traffic source
taxes for these
housing
topics
local government
jobs
social services
zoning/development

9. Young Adults Differ In Many Other Respects
Age 18-29 Age 30+
57% follow local news closely 76% follow local news closely
most of the time most of the time
53% follow national news closely 73% follow national news
most of the time closely most of the time
35% enjoy keeping up with the 61% enjoy keeping up with the
news “a lot” news “a lot”
41% have a favorite local news 59% have a favorite local news
source source
16% have a paid subscription to a 37% have a paid subscription to
local print newspaper a local print newspaper
18% have a mobile app that helps 9% have a mobile app that helps
them get information about their them get information about their
local community local community

10. % Who Get Local News Weekly From Each Source
Age 18-29 Age 30+
PRINT local paper (28%) PRINT local paper (44%)
Local TV broadcast (57%) Local TV broadcast (75%)
Website about local Website about local
community (17%) community (8%)
Person or organization you Person or organization you
follow on a social networking follow on a social networking
site (19%) site (9%)
Word of mouth (64%) Word of mouth (53%)
Internet search (56%) Internet search (37%)

11. 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)

12. 41% of Adults are “Local News Participators”
55% of 18-29 year-olds 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
SNS are not yet a main source for local info or videos about their local community online
Social networks ranked highest as a main source for… 2% post news or info about their local
local restaurants (2%) community on Twitter
community events (2%)

13. All data available at pewinternet.org
Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Research
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
kpurcell@pewinternet.org
Twitter:
@pewinternet
@kristenpurcell