Local news has long played an important role in communities across the country. It informs residents, helps them hold public officials accountable and provides crucial information about weather, traffic and school closures. But today, hundreds of towns and cities that once had their own newspapers have no local news coverage at all. Stand-alone weekly and daily papers have merged or closed, and many of those that remain are mere shells or “ghost papers” without staff reporters. And as the digital revolution has eroded advertising revenues for many newspapers, the future of local journalism remains unclear.
Despite these challenges, Americans continue to value local news. A large majority says local media are important to their community and that they do a good job of several key aspects of their jobs, including providing accurate information, keeping residents informed about public affairs and acting as watchdogs over elected leaders. In fact, the views of those who are most attached to their communities are even more positive in their assessments of local news outlets and journalists.
And while the decline of traditional newspaper models has been painful for communities and the journalism industry, new for-profit and nonprofit ventures, as well as legacy and digital news organizations, are experimenting with ways to fill the local news void. While these efforts may not be a quick fix for the thousands of communities that have lost their own newspaper, they are providing promising examples of viable and sustainable business and journalistic models.