Assessing factors that contribute to local news coverage at the North Carolina county level

Editor’s note: This new chapter of the NC News and Information Census was published June 26, 2023. It examines the role of demographic and other factors in a community’s access to relevant, local news and information. That access was first explored in the Census report published Feb. 14, 2023. This chapter builds on the findings of the full report, but uses different methods for analysis, and as such, it includes its own literature review and methods section.

Clay Williams, Graduate Student Researcher
Jessica Mahone, Ph.D., Research Director
Elizabeth Thompson, Local News Researcher

Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media,
UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media

In the first portion of our analysis of news media in North Carolina, we found that counties in the eastern part of the state had access to fewer news outlets and were reported on by fewer outlets than counties in the central and western parts of the state. But what demographic factors make a place more or less likely to be served by local news media than another place?

A follow-up analysis of the North Carolina news media census explores demographic factors that influence which counties have access to and are reported on by news media in the state. After initial analyses using multiple regression identified the most significant demographic factors contributing to access and reporting, this analysis used a weighted measure of outlets per 10,000 residents to make comparisons of both access and reporting across demographic categories to account for population differences across counties. This analysis found that a county in North Carolina has access to a median of four outlets per 10,000 and is reported on by a median two outlets per 10,000.

Counties with the lowest proportions of non-white residents had access to more outlets per 10,000 than counties with higher non-white populations. Consistent with our initial analyses and previous research, counties with the lowest proportion of Hispanic/Latino residents are reported on by more outlets per 10,000 than those with higher Hispanic/Latino populations.

This follow-up analysis also examined the demographic factors that contribute to the gap between access and reporting. Using the proportion of access outlets that report on a county— the “reporting-access ratio,” this analysis found that population, the percent of population with at least a Bachelor’s degree, and the proportion of nonwhite residents were all predictors of this ratio. Specifically, the reporting-access ratio increased as population and educational attainment increased. This ratio also increased as the non-white population increased, a finding that is counter to other analyses of news ecosystems but highlights that the measures used here— counts of news outlets— are only one part of how we consider the measurement of news ecosystems.

This analysis also explores the variety of media types people have access to, a concept we are calling “media variety.” This report found that the median county had access to four types of outlets and was reported on by four types of outlets, and more than half of North Carolina counties had access to more kinds of outlets than the number that reported on them. In keeping with our previous findings, Eastern North Carolina continued to be the most underserved region in the state when it came to diversity of news sources.

Highlights from this report:

• When accounting for population differences, the median North Carolina county has access to four outlets per 10,000 residents and is reported on by two outlets per 10,000 residents.
• Counties with the highest proportions of white residents had access to more outlets per 10,000 than counties with higher proportions of non-white residents.
• Counties with the lowest proportion of Hispanic/Latino residents are reported on by more outlets per 10,000 than those with higher Hispanic/Latino populations.
• Counties with the highest proportion of college-educated residents have a higher proportion of access outlets that report on them.
• The median North Carolina county has access to and is reported on by four different types of media outlet.

Term	Measurement	Factors
Access Outlets	Number of outlets that a county can access	Population, non-white population
Reporting Outlets	Number of outlets that report on a county	Population, college-educated population
Reporting-Access Ratio	Proportion of access outlets that report on a county (Number of reporting outlets/number of access outlets)	Population, non-white population, college-educated population
Media Variety	The number of types of media (newspaper, digital, commercial TV, public radio, commercial radio) that serve a county through reporting or access

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