National news covers events and developments that have a significant impact on the entire country, such as political scandals, major disasters and international affairs. It also includes the work of local journalists reporting on national issues and covering their community’s impact on those events.
National sources of news can include TV and radio programs, newspapers, magazines, online and social media sites, and podcasts. The Associated Press (AP) is an example of a national news agency. The AP publishes news reports in all formats and is the leading source of independent, nonpartisan, factual news in the United States.
Political affiliation and age play a big role in how Americans use news outlets. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they have used Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC and the New York Times as their main news sources. Moreover, they are more likely to say they have used news outlets that are viewed as left-leaning, including MSNBC, Comedy Central and the Los Angeles Times. The Fox News and Breitbart are the most popular conservative-leaning outlets among these groups.
A smaller share of Americans name NPR and the Washington Post as their main news sources, but they are more likely to see these outlets as mainstream media. Among the national news outlets, only the Weather Channel is seen as being both somewhat bipartisan and trustworthy by Democrats and Republicans. There is a similar lack of partisan overlap when it comes to the news outlets that are more distrusted than trusted by Americans in general, with three outlets being more distrusted than trusted by both Democrats and Republicans: the National Enquirer, Infowars and OAN.
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