How Americans View Journalists in the Digital Age
U.S. adults largely value journalists’ role in society but see their influence declining – and they differ over what a journalist is.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Americans largely foresee AI having negative effects on news, journalists
About six-in-ten Americans (59%) say AI will lead to fewer jobs for journalists in the next two decades.
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More Americans want the journalists they get news from to share their politics than any other personal trait
Most Americans say it is not important that the news they get comes from journalists who share their political views, age, gender or other traits.
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Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News
More Americans now prefer to get local news online, while fewer turn to TV or print. And most say local news outlets are important to their community.
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Most U.S. journalists are concerned about press freedoms
57% of U.S. journalists surveyed say they are extremely or very concerned about potential restrictions on press freedoms in the country.
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About one-in-six U.S. journalists at news outlets are part of a union; many more would join one if they could
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.
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U.S. journalists differ from the public in their views of ‘bothsidesism’ in journalism
55% of journalists surveyed say that every side does not always deserve equal coverage in the news. 22% of Americans overall say the same.
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Twitter is the go-to social media site for U.S. journalists, but not for the public
The social media sites that journalists use most frequently for their jobs differ from those that the public turns to for news.
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What do journalists think the news industry does best and worst?
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.
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Americans blame unfair news coverage on media outlets, not the journalists who work for them
About eight-in-ten Americans (79%) say news organizations tend to favor one side when presenting the news on political and social issues.
