HELENA — It’s been clear for years that the way people consume news is changing. Now, a new survey is providing more details about how those changes are playing out in Montana.
On Thursday, the Greater Montana Foundation released the results from its 2025-2026 Sources of News Survey. The survey, commissioned by GMF and conducted by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, follows previous editions in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
“We wanted to fine-tune it to reflect a lot of the changes – the really exponential changes – that have occurred within our media systems,” said Edwin Johnson, chair of the GMF Board of Trustees.
(Watch the video to hear some of the top findings in the survey.)
Analysts said one of the most significant findings was that many Montanans are “passive” consumers of news. 67% of respondents said they read or listen to news that’s “delivered to them,” compared to 33% who said they “search out news that interests them.”
“The extent to which people consume news passively on their handheld device, via an algorithm provided by Google or Apple News or Samsung – that was the biggest surprise to me,” said John Baldridge, a program manager with BBER.
In the 2015 survey, just 34% of respondents said they used social media to access news and information. In the 2019 survey, that number was up to 47%, and in this edition, it reached 71%.
“This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call a growth trend,” Baldridge told the audience, pointing at a chart showing the numbers.
But while the overall number of Montanans getting news on social media is rising, fewer people said they’re sharing news online with the goal of influencing others – from 63% in 2019 to 26% this time. Analysts saw that as a sign some people are less interested in discussing news with people they expect to disagree with.
“We tend as humans to seek things that we kind of agree with, and if we don't agree with it, we don't go there,” said Johnson. “Well, that's really continued to grow, really in a concerning fashion.”
Analysts said signs of ideological “silos” could also appear in which news outlets Montanans turn to for information. Self-identified Republicans in the survey were more likely to name Fox News and local TV stations as their top sources of news online, while Democrats were more likely to point to the New York Times, CNN and local newspapers.
The number of people who say they don’t follow the news closely has gone up since previous surveys – from 22% in 2019 to 32% today. However, a large majority – 84% – still said local news is “absolutely,” “mostly” or “somewhat” important to them and their family.
“It was gratifying to see how much Montanans do rely and do go to local news – and trust it,” Johnson said.
The Greater Montana Foundation gives grants to broadcasters and other organizations to support projects on issues of importance to Montanans. Johnson said the information in this survey will help them further that goal. He said they don’t know specifically when the next edition of the survey will be conducted, but he expects it will be in the next few years.
BBER randomly selected just over 1,600 Montanans for the survey; 406 responded. Baldridge acknowledged that relatively small sample means the numbers for specific demographics may be more subject to variability.
