Americans "overwhelmingly, said they value local news outlets, said they are doing a good job, and a better job than national outlets, at "reporting without bias and covering news they can use in their daily life."
Asked who they trusted more to provide news they could use in their daily life, 79% said local to 19% for national. As to reporting without bias, 66% gave the nod to local while only 31% to national.
That is according to a new study from Knight/Gallup,"The State of Public Trust in Local News." That comes as President Donald Trump continues to attack national media as fake, liars and enemies.
The good news for local news was that trust, the bad news was that the study also found that that trust advantage was "tenuous and in danger of falling prey to the same forces eroding trust in the national news media," and that the trust differential might be more a reflection of distrust in the national media than enthusiasm for local.
The study also found ways that local news outlets to build trust, including an increased focus on local rather than supplementing with national due to cost concerns, or putting a greater emphasis on reporting that holds powerful people and institutions accountable.
Survey results are based on three self-administered web surveys with random samples of U.S. adults 18 and older. Interviewing for the first survey was June 13-July 1, 2019, of 1,311 Gallup Panel members; the second was June 24-July 11 of 1,384 Gallup Panel members; the third was July 11-22, 2019, of 1,468 Gallup Panel members. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.
