The data below demonstrates that if you want to know how the news will impact elections, watch local anchors. The national guys matter only inasmuch as they persuade them. You should view national news like you view widely followed Facebook or Twitter feeds. Yes, people watch the national news just like they read Facebook and Twitter, but they watch knowing that they are watching biased coverage in the same way they do social media, with their guard up.

So what is the bias of local television? It's hard to generalize, but it's almost certain that local news is more conservative leaning than national news. One reason we can conclude this is that local television is one of three media sources the Democrats trust less than Republicans. The others are local radio news, which is dominated by conservative talkers, and Fox News. Republicans distrust the other eighteen sources more than Democrats.

Broadcast news has seen a serious spike in viewership since the coronavirus hit, as Forbes outlines. In March and April , it had its biggest viewership in ten years, averaging almost 30 million viewers, a 35% increase against last year. In the nightly news, ABC averaged 12 million, NBC 10 million and CBS 7 million.

Sunday morning news also saw a bump between 33 and 39%, with NBC at 4.4 million, ABC 3.7 million and Fox News at 1.8 million. Morning broadcast news increased only around 8% from the prior year, with GMA getting 4.3 million, Today 4.2 million and CBS Early Morning 3.2 million.

Cable news also also increased its share during this time. Cable news in April dominated all of cable, with all three networks being the most watched of all cable. In prime time in April Fox News averaged 3.7 million, up 54% from previous April, MSNBC 2 million up 23% and CNN 1.95 million up 153%. During daytime, Fox News averaged 2.2 million up 65%, CNN 1.4 million up 150%, MSNBC 1.3 million viewers up 40%.

These increases, however, are dropping across the board as coronavirus news fatigue sets in. Fox News is down 14%, CNN down 23% and MSNBC down 23% since peaking in March. The broadcast news is also down between 16% and 26% since their March peak.

While national broadcast and cable news have seen spikes, they do not represent the most powerful media presence, or even the most powerful source of news in TV. As Brain World magazine illustrates, Americans get their news from the following sources and in the following order of frequency.

Local TV – 64% sometimes or often

Websites/Apps – 64% sometimes or often

Radio – 56% sometimes or often

Cable News – 55% sometimes or often

Network Broadcast News – 51% sometimes or often

Social Media – 47% sometimes or often

Print Newspapers – 43% sometimes or often

Within Social Media, Facebook dominates.

Facebook – 66% use it and 45% use it for news

YouTube – 58% use it and 18% use it for news

Twitter – 15% of adults use it and 11% use it for news

News sources are viewed very differently when it comes to trustworthiness.

Order of trustworthiness:

Local News – 42% view as unbiased, 28% biased. +14 out of 70%

Local Radio News – 31% view as as unbiased, 28% biased. +3 out of 59%

Local Newspapers – 34% view as unbiased, 35% biased, -1 out of 69%

Network TV News – 29% views as unbiased, 36% biased, -7 out of 65%

Twitter news feeds – 14% view as unbiased, 40% biased, -26 out of 54%

National Newspapers – 21% view as unbiased, 41% biased, -20 out of 62%

Facebook news feed – 17% view as unbiased, 45% biased, -28 out of 62%

Internet sites – 18% view as unbiased, 46% biased, -28 out of 64%

Cable news – 23% view as unbiased, 48% biased, -25 out of 71%

Comparing TV – 87% of Americans watch news on TV every week. Of those, 70% watch local, 41% watch cable, and 30% watch network news TV.

Clearly the gold standard for trust is local TV. They come the closest to cutting across cultural, political and economic lines as any information source. Bottom line, if you want to move voters, get good local news coverage.