In a year full of intense news cycles, Americans’ media diets have fluctuated dramatically. Current attention levels to local news are at a three-year low after peaking during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. With national politics dominating the agenda in recent months, attention to local news has faded. However, local outlets have largely avoided the blame for sowing discord and falsehoods other news sources have received.
The latest Gallup/Knight Foundation survey in the Trust, Media and Democracy series finds:
- Americans intensely followed local news in March, but in the days leading up to and after the election their interest waned, and they focused much more on national news.
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