Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash

Press Forward Minnesota is a movement to ensure every community has access to trusted local news and vital civic information through strengthening Minnesota’s local news ecosystem. Over the past few months, Corona Insights has worked with Press Forward Minnesota to conduct a statewide survey to better understand what matters most to residents in state and local news. Collecting over 2,000 responses in early 2025, this study provides quantitative data that captures the current realities of Minnesotans’ relationship with local journalism.

The survey’s background, an overview of key findings, and full reporting documents can be found here. The reporting shares how Minnesotans get their news, the impact local news makes on their communities, levels of trust, intent to financially support local journalism, and related topics.

The survey results demonstrate that access to news was the main reason Minnesotans financially supported state and local news organizations. Corona’s analysis found that Minnesotans who had financially supported local news in the last 12 months were much more likely to feel informed about what is happening in their community. Additionally, residents who had financially supported local news outlets in the last year had higher levels of confidence in taking civic action.

As can be seen in the above graph, Minnesotans who financially supported local news were more likely to feel confident in taking a series of local civic actions. For example, these residents were twice as likely to say they felt very confident in communicating their concerns to local officials or knowing where local politicians stand on key issues facing their community.

These results, among others in the full reporting, demonstrate the critical role state and local news organizations play in connecting individuals to their communities and maintaining a vibrant civic culture.