数字时代美国民众对记者的看法

How Americans ViewJournalists in the DigitalAge Americans largely value journalists’ role in society but see theirinfluence declining – and often differ over who fits the label BYKirsten Eddy, Michael Lipka, Katerina Eva Matsa, Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke,Christopher St. Aubin and Luxuan Wang FOR MEDIA OR OTHER INQUIRIES: Kirsten Eddy, Senior ResearcherKaterina Eva Matsa, Director, News andInformationSogand Afkari, Communications Manager202.419.4372www.pewresearch.org RECOMMENDED CITATION About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about theissues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions. The Centerconducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research andother data-driven research. It studies politics and policy; news habits and media; the internet andtechnology; religion; race and ethnicity; international affairs; social, demographic and economictrends; science; research methodology and data science; and immigration and migration. PewResearch Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. © Pew Research Center 2025 How we did this Pew Research Center has been studying how Americans get news and information for many years,and it has become clear that journalists’ place in society has been changing amid major politicaland technological shifts. So we asked everyday people for their views on this topic, including howthey define a “journalist,” how they view journalists’ role in America, and what they want fromtheir news providers more broadly (whether they are journalists or not). We used two different methods to explore Americans’ understandings of what it means to be ajournalist in the digital age: Survey We surveyed 9,397 U.S. adults from April 14 to 20, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey isa member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited throughnational, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly.This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews wereconducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to berepresentative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation,education and other factors. Read more about theATP’s methodology. Here are thequestions usedfor this report, thetoplineand thesurvey methodology. Focus groups Pew Research Center worked with PSB Insights to conduct nine 90-minute online focus groupswith a total of 45 U.S. adults from June 10 to 18, 2025. These discussions are not nationallyrepresentative, and the results are not framed in quantitative terms. This report includes findingsand quotes from the focus groups to help illustrate and add nuance to the survey findings. Quoteswere lightly edited for spelling, punctuation and clarity. To learn more, refer to themethodology. How Americans View Journalists in the DigitalAge Americans largely value journalists’ role in society but see theirinfluence declining – and often differ over who fits the label As Americans navigate an often-overwhelming stream of news online – some of it coming fromnontraditional news providers– what it means to be a journalist has become increasingly open tointerpretation. That is apparent in several ways in a new Pew Research Center study.Who Americans see as a“journalist” depends on both the individual news provider and the news consumer,similar tothe variety of ways people define “news.” There is a lack of consensus –and perhaps some uncertainty– about whether someone whoprimarily compiles otherpeople’s reporting or offersopinions on current events is ajournalist, according to a newCenter survey. Americans arealso split over whether peoplewho share news in “new media”spaces like newsletters,podcasts and social media arejournalists. Mixed views about whether people who producevarious types of news content are journalists % of U.S. adults who considersomeone whoprimarilydoes each of thefollowing to be a journalist In some ways, Americans’ ideasabout journalists are still tiedto what the news industrylooked like in the 20th century. PEW RESEARCH CENTER When asked who comes to mind when they think of a journalist, many everyday Americans whoparticipated in our focus groups said they think of traditional TV newscasters like Walter Cronkiteand Tom Brokaw, modern anchors like Lester Holt and Anderson Cooper, and even fictionalcharacters like Clark Kent. Most Americans say journalists are at least somewhat important to the well-being of society. At thesame time, many are critical of journalists’ job performance and say they are declining ininfluence, an opinion that followsyears of financial and technological turmoilin the newsindustry. And many views toward journalists continue to be sharply divided by political party, withRepublicans taking a