The local news that Americans turn to for information about their communities is more than just a business; it is a civic duty. It is also a key component in holding local elected officials accountable to their constituents. Yet, as many local newspapers have shuttered in recent decades due to a secular shift to digital by readers and advertisers and the resulting damage to business models that sustained them for 200 years, residents of some communities are falling behind in their ability to keep up with what their government is doing.
The good news is that for-profit and nonprofit ventures are beginning to develop viable economic and journalistic models to fill the void left by the disappearance of legacy newspapers. Some of these organizations have begun to expand their reach into rural and suburban areas where there is no other local news source. But the challenge remains to develop these efforts to scale so that a sustainable solution can be found for the thousands of communities that have been left with no local news at all.
Major philanthropies have made significant commitments to supporting local news, but these efforts cannot replace the billions in lost revenue that local newspaper companies have suffered over the past two decades. Nor do they fully address the need to support a new generation of local journalists who can find ways to attract younger audiences and report on the issues that matter most to them, such as community-building, solutions journalism and restorative narratives.
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