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I tell the entire group of players, unless the check is made in such a way as to make it useful to pass the good information secretly (rogue skulking about intending to palm valuable treasure, for example). That way, the party has the information.
I then expect the players to speak, in character, about what they have noticed. This encourages them to see this as a role playing game rather than a roll-playing game. I find that the interaction between the players is fun for me and often points out differences in how the information I share is received.
When you have players check for perception/knowledge how do you work out a vast difference in rolls. For example if one player rolls a 4 and another rolls a 25 on the same check. You tell player2 what they see/hear/read/notice/whatever while player 1 basically notices nothing.
Do you expect player 2 to tell all the other players what you told them basically repeating it maybe in their own words? Or is it assumed that if one player makes a check that the relay of information occurred automatically?
Thanks.
I generally assume (as DM) that only the people who succeed on the perception check are aware of the information. There are two caveats to that rule:
If a player tells me ahead of time that his character relays every bit of information they gather via perception, then I inform the party of that and play as though they immediately do it; the downside to this is that when I say every bit, I mean everything.
More commonly, players opt for what I call "Irelayit" rule, wherein they just have to say, "I relay it," and then everyone knows.