How Americans decide what is 'news' when scrolling through social media | Pew Research Center

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May 6, 2025

What Is News?

How Americans decide what is ‘news’ when scrolling through social media

How Americans decide what is ‘news’ when scrolling through social media

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How Americans decide what is ‘news’ when scrolling through social media

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What Is News?
How Americans decide what is ‘news’ when scrolling through social media
How Americans decide what is ‘news’ when scrolling through social media
Information being factual and new are top factors for Americans in deciding if it counts as news
Information about politics, war is largely considered to be news; updates about celebrities’ lives are not
55% of Americans say it’s important that their news sources have political views similar to their own
Americans are more likely to say news makes them feel negative emotions than positive emotions, except when it comes to feeling informed
Democrats more likely than Republicans to feel negative emotions about news early in second Trump administration
What is news? It’s increasingly personalized, but here are some things people still agree on
Here’s how we found out what Americans think news is
People’s assessments of information sources as ‘news’ vary dramatically