Your Quiet Audience Is Bigger Than You Think | New Pew Research on News Engagement

What if the people commenting, sharing and reacting to your journalism aren’t actually representative of your audience? New research from Pew Research Center examines how Americans engage with news, politics, religion and civic life — and the findings offer important lessons for local newsrooms. On this episode of Local Media Association’s Keep It Local, host Ryan Welton talks with Pew Research Center research associate Luxuan Wang about four distinct groups identified in the research: mobilizers, connectors, spectators and outsiders. They discuss: • Why visible engagement doesn’t tell the entire audience story • Why “spectators” may closely follow news without publicly interacting • What the research says about younger audiences and news consumption • Why news increasingly “finds” younger users through social media, creators and podcasts • What local newsrooms should understand about trust • Why local journalism continues to hold a trust advantage over national news One especially important takeaway for newsroom leaders: Your commenters and sharers may be your most visible audience — but they aren’t necessarily your entire audience. Read the Pew Research Center report, “How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life,” at PewResearch.org. URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/journalis... Keep It Local is a podcast from Local Media Association exploring innovation, strategy and the future of local journalism. Interested in sponsoring Keep It Local or appearing as a guest? Contact Lindsey Estes at lindsey.estes@localmedia.org and Ryan Welton at ryan.welton@localmedia.org.