ChatGPT cites official sources over local news, study finds
ChatGPT cited local news sources for just 0.9% of answers to local-topic questions — crime, planning, housing, council decisions, local events — across 30,000 prompts covering 100 UK towns, per a Searchable study reported by Press Gazette. Government and council sites supplied 81.3% of answers; on crime questions specifically, police force websites alone accounted for 57.8%. National newspapers (18.8%) were cited almost as often as local ones (21.2%), and of ChatGPT’s top 20 news sources for local queries, only one — Wales Online — was a local title. Searchable CEO Chris Donnelly said ChatGPT draws on an average of 12.3 websites per query but uses only four in its reply; one in seven of its background searches goes to a local news provider, against one in three aimed at a council, police force or other official body.
Why it matters: It's a concrete, large-sample data point for a standing AEO concern — local and regional publishers may see little pickup from AI answer engines even on queries squarely in their own beat, because the engines default to primary government sources instead.
The record: ChatGPT
Via Press Gazette ↗ · Searchable ↗
Posted to the wire October 22, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.