Which Americans are most likely to have spoken with a local journalist?

Roughly one in four U.S. adults have spoken with or been interviewed by a local journalist, a figure that has held steady for nearly a decade, according to a December 2025 Pew Research Center survey released through the Pew-Knight Initiative. The survey found that 23% of Americans report having interacted with a local reporter, a share that has barely moved since the question was first posed in 2016, when 26% said the same [1]. The Pew-Knight Initiative, which supports research on civic information and community engagement, is a collaboration between the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funds journalism and community development projects [1][7]. Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, a former president of the USA Today Network, became the first woman to lead the Knight Foundation in January 2024 and also serves on the Pew Research Center’s governing board [8]. The survey reveals sharp demographic divides in who speaks with local journalists. White adults were more likely to report such contact, at 26%, compared with 17% of Hispanic adults and 11% of Asian adults [1]. The share for Black adults stood at 21%, a difference from White adults that the researchers said was not statistically significant [1]. The Black population constitutes roughly 12.63% of the U.S. total, according to Census Bureau estimates for July 2024 [2]. Filipino Americans, who number about 4.4 million as of the 2020 census, form the third-largest Asian American group, and Asian Americans overall are a diverse category with wide variation in income and education levels [3]. Education and income were also strong predictors. Thirty percent of adults with at least a college degree said they had spoken with a local journalist, compared with 17% of those with a high school diploma or less [1]. By income, 31% of upper-income Americans reported such contact, versus 18% of lower-income adults [1]. The researchers cautioned that the findings do not establish causality, noting that journalists do not randomly sample the population when choosing sources, so some groups may have more opportunities to interact with local media than others [1]. Community attachment correlated with higher rates of journalist contact. Among adults who said they feel very attached to their local community, 34% reported speaking with a local reporter, while only 13% of those who feel not at all attached said the same [1]. The survey found no significant differences by age or political party, with 23% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats reporting such interactions [1]. The Pew-Knight Initiative continues to examine how Americans absorb civic information and engage in their communities [1].