Media bias and trust is a hot topic, but the Poynter Institute finds: “Distrust of media tends to refer to the polarized environment of the national discourse. Large segments of communities do trust their local news media.”

If you’re not familiar with Poynter, it’s a well-regarded U.S. non-profit institute focused on fact-checking, media literacy & training.

It bases its findings on research by Pew Research Centre that found 85% of Americans say, “local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community” with 71% saying local journalists are reporting the news accurately.

Further, most Republican and Democrat voters both believe that “local journalists are in touch with their community.”

The high degree of trust in local media stands out when you look at overall total media trust numbers (local + national news) from Statista (February 2024) that show that only 39% of Canadians, 32% of Americans, and 36% of Brits “trust news media most of the time”.

🔵 The takeaway: While this research is U.S.-based, there are insights for Canadian communicators. Keep local top of mind for your outreach & networking strategies. While there are an increasing number of news deserts across local markets and local resources are thin, these sources are still massively popular and trusted by audiences. Their real problem is revenue & business sustainability, not trust.

Sources:

• https://www.poynter.org/onpoynt-report/?utm_source=stratoak-newsletter-398c02.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=no-questions-please-go-local-crystal-ball&_bhlid=e50864748ebb6be368a472f7b5c8ce4f97bd7c1b#onpoynt-trust
• https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2024/05/07/americans-changing-relationship-with-local-news/?utm_source=stratoak-newsletter-398c02.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=no-questions-please-go-local-crystal-ball&_bhlid=8423d21e14b14e4bd68ba000aad47eeece1a9cc3
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/308468/importance-brand-journalist-creating-trust-news/?utm_source=stratoak-newsletter-398c02.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=no-questions-please-go-local-crystal-ball&_bhlid=ffc2392fb94361d0287b417a9a82910ffe1b67e7