Access to news and other information about community events, meetings, and issues affecting the civic health of the community leads to informed citizens. Informed citizens tend to be engaged citizens.

INFORMATION ACCESS: Many New Yorkers make efforts to stay informed on political issues and current events. One in two New Yorkers get news from a newspaper daily, higher than the national average of 44.9%, and an estimated 35.7% gets news from other sources at least a few times a week.

Some groups participate in news consumption at a higher rate than others. Age is a signicant factor in reading the newspaper. New Yorkers aged 65–74 reported reading the newspaper daily at a rate of 61%, about twenty percentage points higher than people 24 and under. Nationally, Millennials are neither the most likely age group to access news frequently nor discuss politics with others. However, Millennials in New York are more likely to access news frequently and discuss politics with others (29%) than their peers nationwide (22%). In terms of family income, 61% of New Yorkers who reported their family income at $75,000 or more read the newspaper daily.

New Yorkers are interested in information about their local communities as well. According to the CPIS , 44% say it is completely true that they regularly read the local section of the newspaper. Some New Yorkers reported that they gain this information by watching local television.

USE OF INFORMATION: New York ranked 34th in the nation for discussing politics with family and friends at least a few times a week. New Yorkers discuss local issues as well. According to the CPIS , many New Yorkers agree that it is completely true (28%) or somewhat true (35%) that they often discuss important local issues with community members.

Accessing and discussing political and news information is predictive of engagement in other areas of civic life. In New York, people who read news and discuss politics are more likely to volunteer. Furthermore, these New Yorkers were more likely to donate money than people who do neither. People who access news and discuss political issues at low levels had a lower rate of working with neighbors to solve a community problem than people in groups who did read and discuss news.

New Yorkers who report both low levels of consumption and discussion make up 50% of people who did not vote in the November 2008 election. As compared with other groups, people who had high levels of consumption and discussion made up at least 50% of New Yorkers who reported contacting a public official, attending a political meeting, boycotting a product, and supporting a candidate.