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The Fragility of the Local News Trust Advantage: Evidence from Republican Attacks on Local News

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2025

Allison M. N. Archer Open the ORCID record for Allison M. N. Archer [Opens in a new window]  and
Erik Peterson
Allison M. N. Archer
Affiliation:
University of Houston, USA
Erik Peterson
Affiliation:
Rice University, USA
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Abstract

Today, few political news outlets receive universally favorable evaluations from the American public. In retaining broad public approval, local media remain a notable exception that is important to understand. We consider the durability of local news trust to criticism from politicians, focusing on Republican elites because they generally are more willing to attack the media than Democrats. In a survey experiment, we find that exposure to a Republican politician’s attack on a local newspaper dramatically reduces the public’s trust in and intent to use local news. This attack is particularly effective among Republicans, although it also leads Democrats and Independents to negatively shift their views of the local newspaper. Among those exposed to elite criticism of local news, overall trust and partisan divides between Republicans and Democrats resemble those for national media. This shows that the credibility of local news depends on the absence of elite criticism rather than resilience to it.

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Article
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PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 58 , Issue 2: Forecasting the 2024 US Election , April 2025 , pp. 177 - 183
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

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