State of the news media industry

Plus, more in U.S. now know someone who is transgender or uses gender-neutral pronouns July 31, 2021 Weekly Roundup The latest findings from Pew Research Center · Subscribe ↗ State of the News Media The Center has now published all eight fact sheets on key audience and economic indicators for eight sectors of the U.S. news media industry. Latest release: Digital News, Hispanic and Black News Media Other recent releases: Cable News, Network News, Local TV News, Newspapers, Audio and Podcasting, and Public Broadcasting 6 key takeaways about the state of the news media in 2020 State of the News Media methodology Rising shares of U.S. adults know someone who is transgender or goes by gender-neutral pronouns Overall, 42% of Americans say they personally know someone who is transgender, up 5 percentage points since 2017. Around a quarter (26%) say they know someone who goes by gender-neutral pronouns, up from 18% in 2018. Yet Americans' comfort levels with using gender-neutral pronouns to refer to someone – as well as their opinions on whether someone's gender can differ from the sex they were assigned at birth – have remained static. Immigrants in U.S. experienced higher unemployment in the pandemic but have closed the gap With the onset of the COVID-19 recession in 2020, foreign-born workers in the U.S. saw their unemployment rate increase more sharply than U.S.-born workers. A year later, with the economic recovery gaining momentum, unemployment among immigrants is about equal to that of U.S.-born workers. However, for both groups, the unemployment rate remains greater than the pre-pandemic level. Religious Americans less likely to believe intelligent life exists on other planets Highly religious adults in the U.S. are much more skeptical about the possibility of life beyond Earth compared with those who are less religious. About six-in-ten Christians (57%) say that their “best guess” is that intelligent life exists on other planets, compared with 80% of religiously unaffiliated Americans. Those who attend religious services at least weekly are considerably less likely than those who seldom or never attend to say that intelligent life exists elsewhere (44% vs. 75%). Most Americans believe in intelligent life beyond Earth; few see UFOs as a major national security threat Those on ideological right favor fewer COVID-19 restrictions in most advanced economies In most of 17 advanced economies Pew Research Center surveyed in spring 2021, those on the ideological right are particularly likely to say there should have been fewer restrictions on public activity over the course of the coronavirus outbreak. These divides are largest in the U.S., with 52% of conservatives and 7% of liberals saying there should have been fewer restrictions. People on the ideological right are significantly more likely to say this in nine other nations surveyed. People in advanced economies say their society is more divided than before pandemic Read more of our coronavirus research Americans’ views about billionaires have grown somewhat more negative since 2020 Roughly three-in-ten Americans (29%) now say the fact that there are some people who have personal fortunes of a billion dollars or more is a bad thing for the country, up from 23% in January 2020. A narrow majority (55%) say it’s neither good nor bad, while 15% say it’s a good thing. Both Democrats and Republicans have become more negative about the impact of billionaires, but Democrats remain far more likely than Republicans to hold a negative view.   From our research $2 billion The amount of political ad revenue for local TV stations in the U.S. in 2020, far above the figure in any prior year. Support Pew Research Center In times of uncertainty, good decisions demand good data. Please support Pew Research Center with a contribution on the Center's behalf to our parent organization, The Pew Charitable Trusts. DONATE Newsletter preferences View in browser Unsubscribe Facebook Twitter Instagram Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank. As a neutral source of data and analysis, Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. © 2021 Pew Research Center