The local news is quickly drifting out of our grasp as a society, as it becomes harder and harder for these outlets to stay afloat financially—or after financial firms buy, gut and sometimes shut them down. Alden Global Capital is one notable example of this, which bought Tribune Publishing for $663 million and then cut staff at these outlets dramatically, making it harder for The Chicago Tribune to cover the resignation of a powerful state maker amid bribery charges, for example, as discussed in detail by PBS NewsHour.
A recent Financial Times analysis found that today about half of all daily newspapers in the United States are controlled by private equity, hedge funds and other investment groups, following the endless rounds of consolidation that happened after the 2008 global financial crisis.
Local newspapers declined so rapidly in 2023 that analysts now say the U.S will have lost one-third of the newspapers it had in 2005 by the end of this year—a year sooner than originally predicted. And last year marked one of the worst for media industry layoffs, at a whopping 21,417—the worst since 2020, when 30,711 cuts were recorded—up 467% from the same period in 2022, according to a recent report.
About half of all U.S. counties now rely on a single remaining news source, according to a new report from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. That report shows more than 7% of counties are now at a substantial risk for losing all news outlets, and 6.4 percent of counties are already without any remaining local news outlet.
This is a true tragedy of our times since, without any local news outlet, we would be forced to get our local news exclusively from social media channels like Facebook and NextDoor, as has already happened for those living in “news deserts.”
While these are great social media platforms, they are not typically the best sources of objective news. For example, I recently saw a NextDoor post about a man walking around my neighborhood with a baton, yelling at pets. While I did make note of this, it certainly wasn’t even remotely the same as reading about what’s going on in my area from a trusted news source.
Essentially, having fewer reliable local news sources would ultimately make it harder for Americans to know what’s actually going on in the world around them.
Trust in Local Media is Higher than National Media—Highlighting an Even Bigger Problem
The other concern about local media outlets drifting away and leaving us with a scattershot feed of occasional “news” on social media is that it undermines the public’s overall trust in the media, which is at a historic low, according to new polling from Gallup. Gallup first asked this question in 1972 and has tracked it nearly every year since 1997; today, only 32% said they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the media’s news reporting and a new high of 39% said they have no confidence at all. That’s nearly four in 10 Americans who have lost trust in the news media’s credibility. Ouch.
This distrust in the national media is especially noteworthy since Americans, on the whole, trust their local media outlets more than national news. About seven in 10 say their local journalists do a good job of reporting news accurately (71%) and cover the most important stories and issues (68%), according to a recent Pew Research Center report.
Although local news sources are more trusted than national media outlets overall, the number of U.S. adults who say they pay close attention to their local news has also dropped, mirroring the declining attention Americans are paying to national news, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey.
What this shows, overall, is that a decline in local news outlets, which are more trusted by most Americans, could easily lead to an even greater distrust in the news media nationwide. So, this underscores a much more serious issue, beyond the fact many local news outlets are folding because their business models are struggling to combat their declining revenue.
A Handful of Local News Outlets Are Defying the Odds by Reinventing Themselves
That said, some local news outlets like the Star Tribune and Outlier Media in Detroit are defying the odds and challenging this trend by doing innovative things to reinvent their business models.
The Star Tribune in Minnesota refreshed its operations by focusing on five core subject areas it determined readers found most useful, and rebranded itself after 157 years in business. The paper asked hard questions to figure out how to “build a better Minnesota by connecting us with the people, ideas and stories that strengthen our communities,” according to the newspaper’s Editor and Senior Vice President. Essentially, the paper decided to focus on what its readers most want and need to know.
Outlier Media in Detroit also retooled its approach to stay relevant to local readers by creating a groundbreaking nonprofit newsroom designed to “address information gaps and systemic failures that create harm in our community” by “focusing first on serving people who need information to meet their challenges and achieve their goals.” To achieve this, the news center now offers a TXT OUTLIER service that empowers users to talk to a reporter directly, one-on-one, and answer the questions they have. The service also delivers the news via text to Detroiters who “need it to meet daily challenges like eviction, navigating property tax appeals, or avoiding utility shut-offs.” In addition, Outlier Media in Detroit invites the community to decide what topics the outlet should cover.
In both cases, these outlets are clearly thriving by reinventing their business models to more proactively and effectively address the needs of their readers in more meaningful and relevant ways.
What Can We, As Publicists Do, to Help Curb These Frightening Trends
Publicists also need to continue to support local news outlets by pitching them story ideas that clearly serve their respective local communities’ needs, since that is what is working for the local outlets that are still thriving. In addition, they should encourage clients to ensure the local news remains viable by counseling them to sponsor community events, in partnership with local media outlets, in their hometowns and key markets.
It would also be beneficial for publicists to reach out to the universities they attended to petition them to offer more journalism scholarships that inspire up-and-coming reporters to pursue this career path. For example, Hampton University offers a $7,000 annual grant for a journalism student at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Education. Even more notable is The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York (CUNY), which plans to offer free tuition to all journalism students in 2026, thanks to a $10 million donation from Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
PR agencies that can afford to do so should also donate to these kinds of journalism scholarship programs—especially given that a 2022 Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce study projected the journalism workforce will dwindle by 3% by 2031. In addition, they should consider supporting charities that are devoted to the long term success and credibility of the news media industry like the The Trust Project, as well as organizations that are building the future of local news in the U.S., such as the American Journalism Project, Institute for Nonprofit News, Lenfest Institute for Journalism, and News Literacy Project. They can also consider pitching and supporting non-profit news sites that are devoted to rebalancing the news and thereby rebuilding Americans’ trust in it.
The waning trust in the media is not just a serious issue for publicists and the general public. It’s an even bigger concern for democracy, as beautifully explained in this article by McKay Coppins in The Atlantic, and something every publicist should take seriously and do their best to combat.
