Part one in a four part series outlining what you need to know from the latest Pew Research Center Report: “Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News.”
Staying informed about the news is often described as a civic duty. People need information to vote, understand what is happening in their communities, and take part in public discussions.
But new research suggests that Americans’ relationship with the news is more complicated than this idea suggests.
A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that 80% of Americans say it is important to stay informed about the news, especially for civic responsibilities like voting. However, when researchers look at how people actually follow the news, the picture becomes less clear.
Many people believe that keeping up with the news matters. But in practice, fewer people make it a regular habit.
This gap between what people believe and what they actually do highlights one of the biggest challenges in today’s information environment.
Even though trust in media organizations has declined, many Americans still believe the news plays an important role in society.
The Knight Foundation reports that 52% of Americans do not believe national news organizations have their best interests in mind. Despite this declining trust in media institutions, Americans still believe staying informed about current events is important.
Pew Research’s study shows that most believe staying informed about current events is important for participating in democracy, especially when making decisions about elections and public policy. The idea that voters should be informed remains deeply embedded in how Americans think about citizenship.
Other research reinforces this finding. Surveys conducted by the Knight Foundation’s American Views project have consistently shown that Americans across the political spectrum believe access to reliable information is essential for our government to function properly.
Even as media institutions face criticism and skepticism, the underlying belief that citizens should stay informed remains widely shared.
But believing something is important does not always mean people act on it.
While many Americans say the news is important, far fewer say they regularly follow it closely.
According to Pew Research, 52% of Americans say they feel worn out by the amount of news available, and 60% say they have reduced how much news they consume overall.
This gap between values and habits reflects broader changes in how people gather information.
In the past, news consumption often involved clear routines. People watched the evening news, read a newspaper, or visited a trusted news website.
Today, news competes with a huge amount of digital content. Social media, streaming entertainment, podcasts, and short-form videos all compete for the same limited resource: people’s attention.
Because of this, the news is now just one option among many.
Research from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report shows that fewer people are getting news directly from traditional sources. Their report found a 33% decrease in print media consumption. At the same time, they reported a 27% increase in news consumption through social media platforms.
This shift does not necessarily mean people no longer care about the news. But it does mean they are interacting with it in different ways.
Another reason for the engagement gap is declining trust in news organizations.
Public confidence in the media has been trending downward for decades. According to long-term research from Gallup, trust in mass media to report the news “fully, accurately, and fairly” has fallen significantly since the 1970s, now sitting as low as 28% according to their 2025 study.
When people feel unsure about whether information sources are reliable, they may be less motivated to follow large news organizations.
Instead, some people turn to individual journalists, commentators, or online creators instead of traditional media outlets, while others reduce their intentional news consumption.
If fewer people are intentionally seeking out news, how are they staying informed?
The answer is that the news finds them.
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report describes a growing trend called incidental news exposure. These are situations where people encounter news while doing something else online, such as scrolling through social media.
According to Pew Research, 47% of Americans believe they can stay informed without actively seeking information (Pew Research, 2026).
Instead of visiting a news website on purpose, people might see a headline shared by a friend, a short clip posted by a creator, or a trending topic in their feed.
This kind of passive exposure allows people to stay loosely aware of current events without intentionally looking for news.
However, it also changes how people experience news.
Instead of reading full articles or watching detailed reports, people often see small pieces of information like headlines, short videos, quotes, or screenshots.
These pieces can spread quickly across platforms, often separated from their original context.
When news is consumed intentionally, readers usually have some context. They know which publication they’re reading, they understand the reputation of the source, and they can evaluate the reporting more carefully.
But when information appears passively in social feeds, that context can disappear.
A headline might circulate without the article attached. A statistic might be shared without its original source. A quote might be reposted without any link to where it came from.
In these situations, people have to quickly decide whether information is credible based on very limited details.
Without clear signals about where information came from or how it was produced, judging credibility becomes more difficult.
The way people interact with news today has important effects on the information ecosystem.
If fewer people actively seek out the news and more people encounter it through social media, credibility becomes both harder to judge and more important to recognize.
Historically, trust in established news organizations often acted as a shortcut. Readers might not fact check every detail in an article because they trusted the publication producing it.
Today, that trust is more divided.
Some audiences continue to rely on traditional news outlets. Others place greater trust in independent journalists, local or niche publications, or online creators.
No matter which sources people prefer, audiences increasingly need to evaluate credibility themselves.
According to Pew Research, No matter which sources people prefer, audiences increasingly need to evaluate credibility themselves. Most U.S. adults say they are very (29%) or somewhat (50%) confident they would know how to verify the accuracy of a news story. But only a quarter are very (3%) or somewhat (22%) confident in other people’s ability to do so.
Understanding who created a piece of information, what evidence supports it, and how it was verified has become a key skill for navigating the modern information environment.
Pew’s recent research highlights an important tension in modern news consumption.
Americans still believe that staying informed is important for civic life. But the way people interact with the news has changed dramatically.
Attention is divided across many platforms. Information spreads quickly through social networks. Trust in institutions varies. And the amount of available content can feel overwhelming.
Closing the gap between believing that news matters and actually engaging with it will require more than simply producing more journalism.
It will require helping audiences navigate the information landscape more effectively by making credibility easier to recognize, understand, and verify.
Because today, staying informed isn’t just about having access to the news.
It’s about knowing what to trust.