Why America is Downloading the News: A Study on Daily News Podcasts and Why U.S. Audiences Listen

Abstract

Daily news podcasts continue to grow as a source of news and information for media consumers as more are seeking to consume news on digital platforms. However, studies on news podcasting are still a new area of research. This study expands a preliminary study to a broader, more national U.S. audience. The current research used an online survey to gather data and provides a broader demographic sample size with various participants across the United States. In addition, this study used the uses and gratifications approach to provide a more thorough analysis of why U.S. listeners choose to listen to daily news podcasts and what gratifications consumers receive. This study also provides new data on whether listeners consume a variety of news podcasts with differing political viewpoints and which medium podcast listeners consider the most trustworthy for news.