In a country where trust in news is at historic lows, local journalism is crucial. It informs citizens, enables them to participate in civic life by voting and contacting elected officials, helps hold local government accountable and knits together communities. Locally produced news is also a powerful tool in the battle against misinformation. Research shows that the decline of local news is linked to increased political polarization, decreased cross-party voting, and diminished government accountability.
In the US, local news is often provided by television stations, which produce either standalone newscasts that run for a half-hour or short segments that air during national morning newscasts. These newscasts can share the branding and studio design of a national network, but are independently owned and operated. The local news in the US can be a key source of information about schools, local politics, community issues and crime.
Local journalism can also include community-driven reporting or hyperlocal news, which is focused on a small geographic area. A recent example is the story of the small college town of Eudora, Kansas, which lost its only newspaper in 2009, leaving a gap in community coverage. A decade later, a group of journalism students at the University of Kansas launched the online Eudora Times. The paper’s award-winning reporting covers school issues, city government, local business and sports.
To ensure a future for local journalism, philanthropy should support innovative business models and work with local communities to invest in their own news. This should involve a combination of funding from the public, foundations and businesses, ideally with a tax credit to help Americans pay for local journalism. This would change the internal economics of local newsrooms and make it possible to create and sustain more of them.
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