Where do Coloradans get their state and local news — and how? Who do they trust, what are they paying for — and why? What roles do Coloradans think local journalists should be playing in our democracy — and how well do they think local newsrooms are doing?
To develop a deeper understanding of how Colorado residents consume, evaluate, and trust state and local media, Colorado Media Project worked with Corona Insights in the summer of 2022 to design a questionnaire that collected relevant data from more than 1,800 Colorado residents from across the state. The survey included questions from previous statewide surveys commissioned by CMP (in 2018 and 2019) and national benchmarks from Gallup/Knight Foundation surveys on Trust, Media and Democracy.
At a CMP webinar on Sept. 22, Corona Insights Director Jim Pripusich unveiled an analysis of the 2022 Colorado Media Project/Corona Insights Colorado News Audience Survey, and walked participants through 10 key findings that reflect Colorado residents’ views of local news outlets and journalists in 2022, and trends that are shaping the future of local news:
Nearly half of Coloradans are interested in state and local news, are digitally savvy, and engage with the news beyond headlines. Nearly half of Coloradans (47%) fell into this definition of the “addressable market” for local news. However, only 13% of residents who met these qualifications also currently paid for at least one source of news (which was defined as the “target market” for this research). As such, the state had an estimated addressable market of 2.2 million and an estimated target market of around 600,000 adults. Our research also confirmed that Coloradans are becoming increasingly digitally savvy. Four out of five residents consume information on their phone at least daily — compared to just 10% in print.
Coloradans said the most important purposes of state and local media were to inform residents about emergencies, hold leaders accountable, and inform residents about public affairs. About three out of four residents said state and local media did a good or excellent job at providing emergency information (80%) and keeping Coloradans informed about public affairs (72%). However, nearly half of residents (48%) described state and local media’s ability to hold leaders accountable as fair or poor.
Coloradans who paid for state and local news did so because the information was trustworthy, the outlet offered relevant information to their community, and covered a topic/issue they cared about. About one in four residents said they financially supported a state or local news in the past year. The most common means of support was a paid, monthly subscription (11% of all residents). Overall, residents were most likely to say they supported an advertising-funding model for state and local news where content was free to access.
While most Coloradans said they trusted local news organizations to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly, fewer residents said this in 2022 than in 2018. The share of residents who said they were not very, or not at all, confident in “trusting local news organizations to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly” nearly doubled from 16% in 2018 to 32% in 2022. Republican residents were twice as likely to say they were not confident (40%) than Democrats (20%). North Central residents expressed lower levels of trust while those in the Denver Metro expressed more trust in local media on average.
Residents most frequently said increasing accuracy and reducing bias in reporting were the most important actions local news organizations could take to increase trust. Most verbatim responses (57%) to an open-ended question about increasing trust were captured in the above statement. However, when presented with specific scenarios, Coloradans were most likely to say that seeing the following would increase trust:
A story that presents both sides of an issue side-by-side
An organization issuing a retraction or correction after an inaccurate story
A media organization correcting online disinformation
However, Corona Insights Director Jim Pripusich cautioned that psychological research indicates that actually taking the above actions may have the opposite of the intended effect, and instead increase levels of mistrust of certain information. Trusting News, The Trust Project and the Journalism Trust Initiative are nonpartisan, nonprofit resources for training, resources and practical steps that newsrooms can take to increase community trust in their newsroom and the stories that local journalists produce.
Coloradans had a strong preference for state and local media to report facts without taking positions on issues. When asked what they wanted to see more from state and local media, most residents (58%) said they desired a reporting of facts without taking positions compared to 22% that wanted to see outlets take clear positions. A strong majority of residents (86%) said news sources reporting from a particular point of view was a problem in state and local news coverage with 49% describing this as a major problem.
Most Spanish speakers agreed that they could access news about the state and their community in Spanish. The survey collected over 100 responses from Spanish speakers. Most residents who spoke Spanish at home agreed that they could access news about Colorado (71%) and their community (61%) in Spanish. When compared to English speakers, Spanish speaking residents were more likely to say they used their mobile phone to consume information and that they relied on social media to verify the veracity of local media claims.
When asked to provide the names of sources they typically use to stay up-to-date on Colorado and community information, residents most frequently mentioned local TV, newspapers, and friends/family. Denver Metro residents were especially likely to mention TV (in general and specific stations/programs) while those in the Mountain West were much more likely to mention newspapers (in general and specific outlets).
While residents were most likely to say they were currently paying a great deal of attention to national news, Coloradans said they were most interested in consuming information about their city and state. A third of Coloradans said they were paying a great deal of attention to national news, compared to a quarter toward local news, and a fifth to state news. However, when asked to rank types of content by level of interest, Coloradans gave the highest rankings to city and state information. Rankings of national and neighborhood news followed with international information being the least desired.
Most Coloradans were satisfied with their ability to get news about the state and their community. Residents were asked, on a scale from 0 to 10, how satisfied they were with their ability to get news about what happens in the state and their community. Most rated both with scores of 6 and above. The ability to get state news received an average score of 6.9 while community news received an average score of 6.4. Residents gave slightly lower average ratings to the quality of news organizations that report information about Colorado (6.4) and their community (6.1).
Here you can download the Sept. 22 presentation from Corona Insights, a full report and complete data tables. Corona Insights Director Jim Pripusich answered many questions about the research in this webinar hosted by CMP.
If you have additional questions about the survey, analysis or methodology, please contact Jim@CoronaInsights.com.
If you have additional questions about CMP, drop us a line at info@coloradomediaproject.com.