Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Organizations that provide news through mass media in the United States are collectively known as the news media in the United States.
History
Mergers and Acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions have reshaped the American news industry over the past several decades, driven by declining print advertising, the rise of digital-first models, and private equity involvement.
One of the most notable deals was Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's 2013 purchase of The Washington Post for $250 million, a personal acquisition rather than a corporate merger, which brought new technology investment to a legacy newspaper. That same year, AOL had already acquired The Huffington Post in 2011 for roughly $315 million, folding it into AOL's media division before Verizon later absorbed both AOL and Yahoo into the Oath (later Verizon Media) portfolio.
Print consolidation accelerated with Gannett's 2019 merger with GateHouse Media, creating the largest newspaper chain in the country by title count, spanning hundreds of local papers. Around the same period, Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known for aggressive cost-cutting, expanded its holdings through Digital First Media and later took full control of Tribune Publishing in 2021, acquiring titles such as the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News.
BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media in 2021 in a stock deal, and had earlier acquired the sports and culture outlet Complex Networks. IAC, which had spun off various media properties, merged its Dotdash publishing unit with Meredith Corporation's national media group in 2021, forming Dotdash Meredith and combining titles like People, Better Homes & Gardens, and Investopedia. Univision's sale of Gizmodo Media Group properties (including Deadspin, Jezebel, and The Onion) in 2019 led to the creation of G/O Media under private equity ownership.
Vice Media, once a highly valued digital news brand, filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and was subsequently acquired by a group of its lenders, including Fortress Investment Group, in a deal reflecting the broader struggles of venture-backed digital journalism. Similarly, Vox Media pursued growth through acquisitions such as New York Media (publisher of New York Magazine) in 2019, while G/O Media later sold The Onion to Global Tetrahedron in 2024.
Structure
Non-profit The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is the primary non-profit television service, with 349 member public broadcasters. News and public affairs programs include PBS NewsHour, Frontline, and Washington Week. In September 2012, PBS rated 88% above CNN in public affairs programming, placing it competitively with cable news outlets but far behind private broadcasters ABC, CBS, and NBC. Due to its local and non-profit nature, PBS does not produce 24-hour news, but some member stations carry MHz WorldView, NHK World, or World as a digital subchannel.
National Public Radio (NPR) is the primary non-profit radio service, offered by over 900 stations. Its news programming includes All Things Considered and Morning Edition.
PBS and NPR are funded primarily by member contributions and corporate underwriters, with a relatively small amount of government contributions.
Other national public television program distributors include American Public Television and NETA. Distributors of radio programs include American Public Media, Pacifica Radio, Public Radio International, and Public Radio Exchange.
Public broadcasting in the United States also includes Community radio and College radio stations, which may offer local news programming.
Major outlets Name Means of distribution Main media type(s) Founded/launched ABC News Television, online, radioNews 1945 CBS News Television, magazines, formerly radioNews 1927 CNN Television, online News, politics 1980 Fox News Television, online, radio News, politics 1996 MS NOW Television, online News, politics 1996 NBC News Television, online, radioNews 1940 The New York Times Newspapers, online News, sports 1851 USA Today Newspapers, online News 1982 The Wall Street Journal Newspapers, online News 1889 The Washington Post Newspapers, online News 1877 Politico Online News, politics 2007 Bloomberg Online, radio World news 1981 Vice News Onlinehttps://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews/about | Archived: https://web.archive.org/user/vicenews/about News 2013 HBO Online, television Entertainment 1972 HuffPost Online News 2005 TMZ Online Celebrity news 2005 CNET Online Tech news 1994 NPR Radio, online News, politics, arts 1970 Pacifica Radio Radio News, politics 1946 The Hollywood Reporter Magazines, online Hollywood film 1930 Newsweek Magazines, online News 1933 The New Yorker Magazines, onlineNews 1925 Time Magazines, online News 1923 U.S. News & World Report Magazines, online News 1948
Social media as a news source News consumption on social media in 2021 was down 5% from what it was in 2020. A 3rd of Facebook users accessed news from their site.While almost all of the Twitter (now X) uses that were served got access to news from their site. The users accessing news on X is down about 4% from 2020, while Facebook is down 7%. Women use Facebook more to access new that men do by 31%, and men get their news from X 13% more than women do. Ages 30-49 are likely to use Facebook for news more than any other age range. Whereas 18-29 year olds are more likely to get it from X than any other age. White people are more likely than any other group surveyed to use both Facebook and X for news.
This article from 2021 in the American Journalism Handbook finds that social media for news consumption has become very Central with 42 to 53% of Americans using social media as a new source. This figure has grown tremendously since 2013.Research cited article reveals that people who primarily find their news or get their news on social media demonstrate lower levels of factual knowledge and are more likely to encounter misinformation. At the same time, there is growing support for the moderation of false information online, but it is still divided. It was also identified that there is a growing dependency on certain platforms by journalistic outlets. for example, Facebook's prioritization of videos in 2015 affected the way news is spread on social media.
A 2025 article by the Pew Research Center states that in the US, just over half of adults reported that they had gotten news from social media. 38% of US adults reported using Facebook to regularly get news, while 35% reported using YouTube as a news source.Followed by Instagram, TikTok, and then X, formerly Twitter. Of the users on X, 57% reported getting their news from X. Similarly, 55% do the same with Truth Social.There was a jump in reports of TikTok users using TikTok to interact with news, from 22% in 2020 to 55% in 2025.The people who are more likely to consume their news from TikTok, Instagram, and X are younger people. Also, your race affects your likelihood of reporting getting your news from Instagram or YouTube. As well as your education, it can also affect where you are likely to get your news.
Trust in news organizations and social media in the United States has been on a steady decline as of late, and there are many noticeable ways in which it has dropped. Per a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, roughly 56% of adults in the United States reported having some trust in the national news organizations they consume. However, this number has decreased drastically from when another survey was conducted in early 2025, by about 11% and roughly 20% from around a decade ago. Even though there is still more trust in local news outlets than national news organizations, which is at around 70%, this too has seen a decline over time. Political affiliation plays a crucial role in these numbers. For example, Republican-leaning independents and Republicans are far less likely than Democrats in reporting their trust in national news, even though trust has decreased on both sides of the aisle. Another important factor to consider is age range. Individuals who are 30 or younger tend to get their news information from social media platforms like Instagram or Tiktok. Adults that are older than 30 are the exact opposite. They tend not to trust social media and instead trust more traditional news organizations.
The 2025 Digital News Report which is the 14th Edition of this report. Shows that the use of X (Formerly Twitter) as a news source is up 8 points in the US from prior years.While the fear of being able to discern Misinformation is up to 73% in the United States.54% of people report accessing news via social media. People 35 and under are more likely to access news on social media.
Both reports give different numbers for the percent of people who access social media to view news, but they claim the same thing that the use of social media as a news source has increased in recent years. Also, there are certain ages or races that use social media more to interact with the news.
This study examined how audiences used social media platforms as news sources.Many users in this report reported encountering news while using social media, and not actively seeking it out.Findings from this report suggest that younger users are significantly more likely to engage with the access news on social media than older users.Social media is important for sharing, commenting, and discussing the news with others.This study concluded that social media does not and cannot fully replace traditional news sources like television or direct sites; instead, social media should function as a way to direct the users to those sites or those external sources.
In 2017, a Digital Journalism report found that more positive news stories performed significantly better and went viral on platforms like YouTube and Twitter (now X) than negative stories did.It was also identified in the study that new stories' social significance, like economic, political, and cultural, would also do better, and unexpected things happening were also prominent in viral news elements like humor, sexuality, animals, and children were less likely to appear.There were also differences in platforms. YouTube had more awe-inspiring, positive content that went viral, while Twitter had more surprising stories, such as the ones that ranked highest.The findings show that stories that invoked positive emotions or had social significance, and sometimes were unexpected, were more likely to become viral on social media.
In 2018, the American Press Institute released a study in which they focused on specific patterns of public attitudes and news consumption in the United States. They collected their data using a national survey and found that Americans receive their news across a wide spectrum of platforms like social media, websites, mobile applications, newspapers, and television. Their findings concluded that many adults still received their news from the television, and found that older adults had even higher numbers because they don't use social media as often. The younger demographic of Americans reported relying on digital platforms and social media to stay informed with news. The study done by the American Press Institute emphasized the multi-platform nature of news consumption among Americans, with many respondents stating that they actually use several sources instead of one to make an informed opinion on the accuracy and reliability of the information they receive. Additionally, the study also found that most news exposure online occurs incidentally, meaning that Americans aren't going on social media just to see the news. This only occurs in an online setting, and does not necessarily pertain to consuming news on the television.