This text was adapted from the introduction of our report on how Chicago-area residents consume local news. Download a full PDF version of the report.
The relationship between the news business and consumers of news is breaking down and reforming at a dizzying pace as digital technology gives audiences new ways to engage with information.
Certainly, every journalism era is transformational. Newspaper domination gave way to radio and broadcast television, followed by cable TV with its 24-hour news cycle. Each sea change created financial winners and losers for both the national and local news ecosystems.
The digital era is even more disruptive to legacy journalism because smartphones and social media put information choices – and information creation – in the hands of each consumer. The great gatekeepers of journalism must compete for attention and revenue with myriad other options, from websites and podcasts to TikTok users and individual Substack writers. The results have been catastrophic for the news business, especially print publications, as audiences scatter. TV news is now under the same pressure. All must adapt or fall further behind.
The Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University produces groundbreaking research about the digital revolution’s impact on local journalism, with the goal of supporting industry professionals as they reshape news organizations into sustainable, vigorous enterprises. For the second year in a row, the Local News Initiative commissioned a comprehensive, scientific survey of news consumer habits and opinions in the Chicago metropolitan area. This survey of 1,101 adults examined news consumer behavior in Chicagoland, but it can be taken as a microcosm for what is happening locally across the country. The survey included the city, suburbs, exurbs and rural areas on the outskirts of the metro area.
The 2025 results capture the digital transformation in full force, as local news consumers – especially young adults – embrace new options for getting information.
A few highlights:
- Smartphones dominate TV: Two-thirds of those surveyed (67%) frequently use a smartphone to consume local news, ahead of television (53%), confirming the shift in preference identified in the 2024 Medill survey.
- Consumers are skeptical of AI: 52% of consumers are uncomfortable with local news produced mostly by artificial intelligence. However 47% approve of a supporting role for AI in news production.
- Content creators are more popular than local newspapers: Nearly one-third (30%) of respondents consume local news daily from content creators (such as people posting on social media and self-published writers on sites like Substack), compared to 18% who rely on local newspapers.
- Audiences still follow local news: The majority of Chicago-area residents (52%) consume news daily, a solid number …
- As Gen Z takes a pass: Just 32% of people ages 18-29 follow local news daily.
The survey was undertaken by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, with funding by the McCormick Foundation. The authors are Medill Professor Stephanie Edgerly, Associate Dean of Research; and Tim Franklin, Senior Associate Dean, John M. Mutz Chair in Local News and Director of the Medill Local News Initiative. NORC at the University of Chicago, on Medill’s behalf, surveyed adults throughout the 14-county Chicago metro area, including counties in Indiana and Wisconsin. The margin of error was +/- 4.72%. (See our detailed explanation of the methodology in the full report.)
Younger vs. older is a key marker
The Medill survey results offer a clearly positive note for local news professionals and others tracking the industry: Chicago-area consumers maintain a strong relationship with the news. The majority of Chicago-area adults (52%) follow local news daily, while 85% engage with local news providers at least once a week.
For comparison’s sake, the survey probed interest in national news and found consumers are even more engaged weekly with national news (89%). The survey, conducted in the spring of 2025, captured a snapshot in time of consumer habits and opinions. That period coincided with the busy early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, when the president and his administration were making national headlines daily. This may explain the spike in interest with national news.
Warning signs about changes in news consumption habits came into focus at the level of demographic differences, especially when survey results were broken down by age bracket. There is a clear generational shift underway, with younger consumers turning away from television and showing much less interest in news overall.
Specifically:
- Almost two-thirds (61%) of adults ages 60+ consume local news vs. just 32% of people ages 18-29 (members of Generation Z). While consumers tend to become more interested in news as they age, this generation is different in many ways. If trends continue, nearly half of news audiences may be at risk of fading away over time, as big a warning sign as any that news professionals must find new ways to engage the public.
- The drop-off of interest among the 18-29 group intensified from the 2024 Medill survey, when the engagement rate was 39%.
AI and content creation: the future?
In one of this year’s most important discoveries, the survey examined consumer perceptions about the use of artificial intelligence to produce news, and found several schisms. Besides identifying a difference in acceptance rate between news produced mainly by AI and news produced mainly by human journalists, the survey found respondents ages 60+ are more uncomfortable (58%) with AI-produced local news than those ages 18-29 (48%).
But undercutting the view that younger consumers are the most open to new technology, only 38% of respondents in the youngest age bracket were comfortable with local news produced mostly by humans with AI assistance, compared to 57% of people ages 45-59. That result could be related to the experience of using AI, with younger, tech-savvy audiences recognizing the limitations of large-language model chatbots.
The survey also identified content creation as a significant source of local news for those who consume it daily. When the survey asked how respondents consume local news, content creation was chosen by 30% of respondents, in the top 4 after local TV stations, search engines and online groups or communities. The category (which includes social media creators, Substack writers and others) came in well ahead of local newspapers (18%), showing that individuals can compete with major news organizations to develop followings and build trust.
Among other important findings of the Medill survey:
- Just 15% of respondents said they currently pay for local news, slightly more than the share who pay for national news (12%). These dire figures are generally in line with other survey results, including last year’s Medill study. One bright spot: the survey found that higher-educated consumers are more likely to pay.
- Among the great majority who don’t pay for news, nearly half (45%) said there were no obvious inducements, such as discounts or perks, that would persuade them to subscribe.
- Many consumers (62%) are not aware of the financial struggles of local news.
- Consumers find national news more stressful than local news to read and watch, and are more likely to avoid watching or reading national news than local news. This result could represent an opportunity for local news organizations to find ways to keep audiences engaged by distinguishing their coverage.
The major takeaway – urgency
The 2025 Medill survey results convey the urgency required by local news organizations to keep up with fast-changing technology and news consumption habits. Audiences are fleeing traditional media, finding new ways to get information. Younger adults generally consume much less local news.
Within those ominous parameters, the survey identifies important opportunities for news organizations to engage with the public. With 85% of Chicago-area consumers still connected with news on a weekly basis, that’s a tremendous potential audience, one that has its device of choice, the smartphone, nearly always at hand. It’s up to news organizations to determine how to attract and maintain relationships with that audience.
- Read the 2024 Medill local news consumption survey
- Check out the brief history of news in Chicago.
Article image by f11photo used under Adobe Stock licensing (Adobe Stock)
