Pew finds 'news infuencers' overwhelmingly men and right-leaning

A new Pew Research Center study released today confirms what we’ve known here for a while: news consumption habits, like climate change, are shifting more rapidly than institutions realized or are capable of keeping up with.

Below, I’ll round up the most interesting stats over all, but first, the biggest takeaway. If you remember nothing else from this study, remember this.

The big takeaway

The majority of “news influencers” having an impact on Americans are male and more likely to identify as Republican, conservative or pro-Donald Trump.

It took me a while to process this overwhelming stat, given my own consumption habits and what I consider to be rigorous creator/influencer journalism. I don’t see a ton of rigorous, fact-based creator journalism out there from the right. In fact, the opposite. But coming just two weeks after an election result being touted as highly influenced by influencers like Joe Rogan, this all tracks. In 2018, the General Social Survey found that 28% of Democrats and a staggering 65% of Republicans expressed “hardly any” confidence in the press – and that was six years ago. As the Brookings Institution notes, this paints a stark picture of a country in which one party and its adherents, Republicans, have little confidence in the established media. So, of course, they’re turning to other sources. Sources who they feel a level of affinity or shared values with.

Here’s a practical example:

In my mind, the study’s right-leaning results are weighted heavily by the fact that so many of the right-leaning influencers included are primarily reaching their audiences via Twitter X. Now, as we know, the percentage of Americans using X is 21% (vs. 33% who have active Tiktok accounts and a whopping 85% on YouTube). Since the Elon-ification of X, two things have happened: People who share his politics have flocked to the platform and the platform itself has been proven to algorithmically serve up more right-leaning content. So, I wondered, is that a real result if a relatively small portion of the overall population is even using X?

It is. In a new world order where vocal minorities often influence everyone’s rights and deeply loyal niche audiences can make someone rich, this matters a lot. Especially when you consider the younger audiences consuming what is overwhelmingly right-leaning content.

“It's roughly equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans saying that they get news regularly from new influencers,” said lead researcher Galen Stocking in a conversation last week.

Consider this:

“Among those who say that they see opinions,” said Stocking, “they're much more likely to say that they see opinions they agree with than they disagree.”

Which means news influencers are the perfect vehicle for anyone who wants to tear down fact-based journalism and replace it with “alternative facts.”

Influencers are, as promised in their name, influencing our country (and the world) and in many cases connecting with a huge amount of the population that feels unheard or unrepresented by mainstream media. They will not go away.

The promise of creator-model journalists is more important than ever. Consumers will continue to seek alternative sources and devalue legacy media brands. Our opportunity is to use the very tools and pathways the influencers have used to reach the same audiences with work backed by facts and clear standards.

More to know from the Pew Study

• The study defines “news influencers” as individuals—not organizations—who have over 100,000 followers on major platforms and regularly post about news. 

• 1 in 5 Americans now regularly get news from influencers

• 75% of sampled news influencers had no prior news industry background

• Audiences say they turn to influencers not just for hard news but for a mix of opinions, humor, and context

• Young adults (18-29) are more likely to get news from influencers (37%) and find it helpful

• Young Americans trust social media (52%) almost as much as national news orgs (56%)

• Gender disparity: 63% of sampled news influencers are men

• Ethnic differences: 17% of white adults vs. higher % of Hispanic, Asian, and Black adults seek influencer news

• 66% of those surveyed say influencer content helps them better understand current events

• 70% find influencer information somewhat different from other sources

Correction: This post initially incorrectly identified the overwhelming majority of news influencers as white.