A digital environment is now an essential component in how Americans understand local events and issues in news reports. Today, almost as many U.S. adults say they prefer to obtain their local news on the internet as prefer to do so over the telly.

Chart showing that the overwhelming most of Americans get at least some local news online.

Specifically, when asked which pathways they like for local news – the telly set, the internet (through either social media marketing or websites/apps), print or radio – nearly exactly the same part of U.S. adults say they prefer an internet method (37% total, including 23% who favor news websites or apps and 15% who name social websites) as say they like television (41%). Far fewer prefer print newspapers (13%) or radio (8%). This close split between TV and internet based pathways tracks closely with how Americans access news more generally.

Beyond digital being the preferred pathway, 89% of Americans reach least some local news digitally contributing to four-in-ten (41%) achieve this often. This in time breaks down to about equal shares who frequently get local news specifically from social networking (25%) and internet-based news websites or mobile phone applications (26%).

Even as Tv producers are a powerhouse source for local news, they may be still accessed primarily through the analog format of tv sets; this is especially valid of radio news stations. Fully 76% of those who get news from local Tv producers and 81% of people who get news from stereo primarily check out these providers from the traditional pathway.

But other news providers have a very substantial percentage of their audience who access them online. Among those who get local news from daily newspapers, as an example, 43% primarily access them online while 54% get them mainly in a print format. And up to 50 % of those who get local news from newsletters or listservs (49%) achieve this primarily online.

Chart showing that few Americans are digital-only or analog-only in relation to local news.

Concurrently, few Americans are fully analog or fully digital in the manner they get local news. Instead, most (68%) mix online and offline pathways, for example, switching on it set to view their local news station but going on line you just read the daily newspaper and neighborhood listserv.

Just 7% of Americans indicate that they just use digital pathways as their primary access points. Three times as many U.S. adults (21%) mainly access all providers they get news from via an analog pathway – though this really is still also a clear minority.

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