What Is News in 2025? Pew Study Finds It’s Up to You
In 2025, news isn’t just reported — it’s interpreted, debated, ignored, or redefined, depending on who’s consuming it. That’s the central finding of a new Pew Research Center study from the Pew-Knight Initiative, which suggests that the very definition of “news” has become deeply personal — and in many ways, subjective.
The study, which includes qualitative interviews with 57 Americans in August 2024 and a nationally representative survey of 9,482 U.S. adults conducted in March 2025, shows that people no longer rely on traditional gatekeepers like journalists or editors to decide what is newsworthy. Instead, they draw on their own identities, interests, and values to determine what counts as news — and what doesn’t.
“That makes everyone like a wire service editor,” said Tracy Weber, managing editor of ProPublica. “That’s good. That’s also bad, because they’re not trained to be the best wire service editor.”
The report illustrates a stark shift from the pre-digital era, when media institutions decided what the public needed to know. Back then, audiences were more passive — consuming news filtered through the lens of professional judgment and editorial standards. Today, people curate their own news diets, often through social media feeds, newsletters, group chats, or niche online platforms.
As Nicholas Johnston, publisher of Axios, put it: “Thirty years ago, the platforms or places where you could be told something you don’t know — aside from being personally told by a friend — were very limited. Now, it’s essentially infinite.”
This explosion of information has blurred the lines between entertainment, opinion, and journalism, making it harder to distinguish what’s important from what’s merely viral. The study also found that many people’s stated values about news don’t always align with their actual behaviors — for instance, claiming to prioritize hard news but mostly consuming lifestyle or opinion content.
Ultimately, the study paints a picture of a fragmented media ecosystem where "news" is no longer a shared national experience, but a highly personalized one, shaped by algorithms, individual preferences, and cultural identity.
Whether that’s a good thing or not remains a matter of perspective — which, in 2025, is kind of the point.
