Good News Consumers Are Getting Harder to Find. That May Be Local Media’s Opportunity.

Estimated read time: 6 minutes

Good News Consumers Are Getting Harder to Find. That May Be Local Media’s Opportunity.

The media business spends a great deal of time talking about what makes a good news organization.

Accuracy. Fairness. Independence. Editing. Verification. Transparency. A willingness to correct mistakes. A newsroom that knows the difference between reporting and rumor.

But the other side of the equation gets less attention: What makes a good news consumer?

That question is becoming more important as Americans navigate a news environment crowded with partisan claims, social-media snippets, influencer commentary, artificial-intelligence summaries, synthetic images, podcasts, newsletters, search results and group-chat “truths” that arrive without much context. The old newsstand has been replaced by a fire hose. Consumers are no longer merely reading the news. They are sorting, screening, doubting, sharing, avoiding and occasionally researching it.

Pew Research Center recently asked U.S. adults, in their own words, what it means to be a “good news consumer.” The most common answer was being discerning or skeptical, mentioned by 20% of respondents. Another 17% mentioned following the news or staying informed. Thirteen percent cited getting news from quality sources, 12% mentioned researching or fact-checking news, 10% pointed to getting news from a variety of sources, and 7% mentioned getting news from a variety of perspectives. Four percent said a good news consumer does not share inaccurate information, and 3% said good news consumers use the news to make decisions. Pew noted that 32% of respondents did not answer the open-ended question.

The numbers are revealing, partly because they are not large.

If only one in five Americans spontaneously identifies skepticism or discernment as a trait of a good news consumer, local media has both a challenge and an opening. Consumers say they want reliable information, but many may lack a clear framework for judging it. They want to be informed, but they are also worn down. They say they value quality sources, but trust varies sharply across the news landscape. Pew noted that no single news outlet among 30 it asked Americans about in 2025 was trusted by a majority of U.S. adults.

That is a difficult environment for journalists. It is also a serious business issue for local advertisers.

Advertising does not operate in a vacuum. It works inside an information environment. When consumers trust the environment, advertising benefits from the context. When consumers distrust the environment, everything becomes harder: brand claims, product offers, sponsorships, public-health messages, political advertising, retail promotions and reputation-building campaigns.

This is why the Pew findings matter to radio, television, cable, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, digital publishers and agencies.

A local advertiser is not just buying reach. It is buying a relationship with an audience at a particular moment, in a particular setting, with a particular level of receptivity. A hospital ad next to a trusted local health story does not land the same way as a random digital impression beside dubious content. A bank sponsorship of a local business report carries a different meaning than a banner ad chasing a consumer across the web. A car dealer’s message in a familiar morning show environment feels different from a pre-roll attached to low-quality video.

Context has always mattered. In the AI and misinformation era, it matters more.

For local newspapers and magazines, Pew’s findings should strengthen the sales story around quality audience and trust. A reader who chooses a local publication is not merely consuming content; that reader is participating in a more intentional form of information gathering. That has value for advertisers trying to reach homeowners, business leaders, civic participants, parents, voters, donors, diners, shoppers and local decision-makers.

Print and local digital publishers should make this point more explicitly. Their products do not just deliver impressions. They deliver consumers who are actively trying to understand their community.

For local TV, the opportunity is to connect trusted video content to community utility. Weather emergencies, crime updates, school issues, elections, transportation changes, local business stories and public-safety information all require credibility. The viewer who turns to a station for information is in a different mindset from the viewer passively scrolling through a feed. That difference can be valuable to advertisers in healthcare, home services, automotive, financial services, education, legal services and retail.

For radio, the role is more personal. Radio often functions as a daily companion, especially in the car and during work routines. A trusted host can help listeners process what is happening locally. That host relationship can also lift advertiser messages, particularly when the station has earned credibility over time. In an environment where consumers are increasingly skeptical, a familiar voice is not a small asset. It is part of the value proposition.

Cable can make the case through community targeting. Local cable systems, regional news channels and neighborhood-focused programming can help advertisers reach consumers within specific geographies where local issues matter. In fragmented markets, geography itself becomes context. A school-board issue, hospital expansion, road project or retail development may matter intensely in one part of a market and barely register in another.

Outdoor has a different place in the news-consumption ecosystem, but it is not irrelevant. Billboards and transit ads do not ask consumers to evaluate a source or click a link. They build memory in the physical world. That matters when the rest of the information environment is chaotic. A clear outdoor message from a trusted local advertiser can provide familiarity and repetition that complements news, digital search and social discovery.

Digital sellers face the most complicated challenge. Digital advertising has enormous targeting and measurement advantages, but it also suffers most from the broader trust problem. Consumers know that the web is full of questionable content, clickbait, anonymous claims and AI-generated material. Local digital sellers should lean into brand-safe environments, first-party audience relationships, newsletter sponsorships, local content adjacency and transparent reporting. In other words, sell quality, not just clicks.

The most interesting part of Pew’s study may be that 82% of Americans say they at least sometimes do their own research to check the accuracy of news. That sounds encouraging. But it also raises a practical question: what does “research” mean?

For some consumers, it means reading multiple reputable sources. For others, it may mean searching online until they find something that confirms what they already believe. That distinction matters enormously. A person can be skeptical in a healthy way — or skeptical in a way that rejects any information that challenges their assumptions.

That is the delicate problem local media must help solve. A good news consumer is not merely cynical. Cynicism says, “Everyone is lying.” Discernment says, “Let me understand who is reporting this, what evidence they have, what is known, what is uncertain and what other credible sources say.”

That difference should be part of local media’s public case.

News organizations should not simply ask audiences to trust them. They should show audiences how trust is earned. Explain sourcing. Label opinion clearly. Correct mistakes visibly. Distinguish breaking-news uncertainty from confirmed facts. Make the reporting process more understandable. In an age of AI-generated content, that transparency becomes a competitive advantage.

For ad agencies, this opens a useful planning conversation with clients. When evaluating media, agencies should ask not only who the audience is, but what kind of information environment surrounds the message.

Is the audience actively engaged?
Does the medium have local credibility?
Is the content original?
Is the context brand-safe?
Does the placement support or weaken the advertiser’s reputation?
Will the consumer trust the environment enough to consider the message?

These questions are especially important for categories where trust is central: healthcare, banking, legal services, senior living, education, home improvement, insurance, automotive and public agencies. In those categories, the media environment can either reinforce credibility or quietly undermine it.

The Pew findings also suggest a broader content opportunity. Local media companies can help teach news literacy without sounding preachy. A station, newspaper, magazine or digital publisher could create short features, newsletters, social posts or community events around how to evaluate sources, spot misinformation, understand polling, read local government documents, interpret crime data, or distinguish news from opinion. That kind of content serves the community and creates sponsorship opportunities for advertisers that want to be associated with civic trust.

A bank could sponsor a “Know Your Local Economy” series.
A hospital could sponsor “How to Read Health News.”
A university could sponsor “Civic Literacy in Your Community.”
A law firm could sponsor “Understanding Local Courts.”
A public broadcaster could partner with schools on media-literacy programming.

These are not gimmicks. They are ways to connect advertisers with the public’s need for clarity.

The MediaPost commentary on Pew’s study argued that one overlooked attribute of a good news consumer is subscribing. That is a fair point. Subscription is not merely a revenue act; it is a vote for the continued existence of original reporting. A community that wants reliable local news but refuses to support it eventually gets less reliable local news.

Local media sellers can use that idea carefully with advertisers. Supporting local journalism is not charity. It is market-building. A healthy local news ecosystem produces informed consumers, stronger communities, more accountable institutions and better advertising environments. Businesses benefit when residents understand what is happening around them and trust the channels carrying commercial messages.

The next era of news consumption will not be easier. AI will make it faster to generate plausible falsehoods. Social platforms will continue to fragment attention. Partisan media will continue to sort audiences by identity and worldview. Consumers will continue to say they want truth while often rewarding speed, emotion and confirmation.

That means the job of local media becomes more important, not less.

The good news consumer may be skeptical, informed, careful with sources and willing to check facts. But that consumer does not appear magically. Good news consumers are cultivated by good news organizations, good media habits and communities that value reliable information.

For local media salespeople and agencies, the business lesson is straightforward: trust is not just an editorial virtue. It is an advertising asset.

And in a marketplace full of noise, the advertiser that appears in a trusted local environment may not simply be buying attention.

It may be borrowing credibility.