local journalism
Local journalism is broadly defined as a professional practice and a product that is specific to a geographic area and focused on the people and events that are connected to that geographic area. There is debate as to the size of a local geographic area, as well as the different audiences served. Local journalism is a critical component of journalism broadly because of the many impacts that local journalism has on communities and civic society. The work of local journalism is just as important in large metropolitan regions as it is in rural communities; further, local journalism is not tied to a specific media format, but is experienced across media, from television to radio to print to the Web.
Local journalism outlets include television stations, radio stations, newspapers, and media websites. Increasingly, local journalism also includes the dissemination of content via social media outlets. Collectively, these outlets work in aggregate to provide local journalism. Regardless of media outlet, local news serves a critical function in providing information to community members.
This entry examines local journalism by first considering the various dimensions that comprise local journalism, and then by examining the impact that local journalism has on the communities covered by a local news outlet. The impact of the decline of local journalism is also examined in order to better understand the state of the industry. Finally, this entry examines the impact that local journalism has on a given community and the impact on the function of government within that community.
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Dimensions of Local Journalism
In defining local journalism, there is a clear challenge in framing what counts and what does not count as local. Prior research has defined local news from a variety of dimensions, although most research has focused on two schools of thought: an audience-centric perspective and a geographic approach.
The audience-centric approach to defining local journalism focuses on defining local journalism through the perspective of audience members in a given community. This emphasizes understanding what audience members see as directly relevant to the local context. This approach is advantageous in some instances as it emphasizes consumption and frames the discussion of local journalism through the lens of what community members see as valuable. The term local evokes different responses from different audience members, but broadly connects to the sense of geography, place, and community that help to create a sense of belonging. Thus, an audience-centric view emphasizes how audiences come to understand and experience local news and how that experience impacts their perception of a given community.
A geographic approach looks to define local journalism based on geographic areas. For instance, some scholars have defined local media based on the geographic boundaries of a given county. Others define local journalism as the media outlets that are physically located within city limits of a specific town that is the focus of a study.
The advantage of a geographic approach is that it sets specific boundaries for what is counted as local journalism and removes subjectivity. A challenge of this approach is that the geographic area covered by a local journalism outlet depends in large part on the type of media. Local broadcast television stations tend to have a wider geographic reach than newspapers and also reach a larger audience. Radio stations tend to have an even wider footprint than local broadcast television, but also tend to reach a smaller audience. Websites are more complicated in terms of both geographic reach and audience; websites are not bound by geographic region, but it is also easier to target content to specific audiences. For instance, Facebook has explored the use of geographic targeting to create local news pages that serve specific towns and regions. Similarly, newspapers such as The Washington Post are using keyword targeting to reach specific audiences searching online for news on topics related to certain keywords. Thus, the geographic framing of local journalism can help to create clear boundaries, but the classification of what counts as local journalism is complicated by the variation in focus of the various media outlets covering a given community.
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Decline of Local Journalism
There is significant variance across the United States in terms of the degree of access to quality local journalism within each community. Since 2000, local journalism has faced increasing competitive pressure and a declining business model. Traditional local journalism outlets (print, radio, and television) have faced significant struggles in part because of the success of online-only news media outlets, as well as mobile apps and social media, in attracting large user bases. These online outlets have also been quite successful in attracting advertising dollars, including at the local level, because of the ease with which advertisers are able to target specific users via online advertising. Moreover, online platforms have given users a mechanism to produce and distribute local journalism, often in place of traditional local journalism. Examples include community reporting on Patch.com websites and the acceleration of community reporting and community information sharing on social media outlets such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Many communities today have their own private or public Facebook group, where one will frequently find community activists reporting on events such as local sports or school board politics.
According to a report from the University of North Carolina, weekday readership of U.S. newspapers declined from 122 million daily readers in 2004 to 68 million daily readers in 2019. In part, the decline in advertising revenues has led local newsrooms to slash the number of reporters covering a given community, or to cut salaries in order to reduce operating expenses. The number of journalists in this period fell from 71,000 in 2004 to 35,000 in 2019. Work from a multi-institution team led by Duke University found that the quality of local news coverage is declining; increasingly, coverage produced by local news outlets has a low probability of being either original or locally relevant to a given community.
Broadcast news remains a small spark of hope in the changing landscape of local journalism. Similarly, while radio has faced some consolidation and challenges in continuing to produce new news, both remain viable local information sources. But both radio and broadcast tend to operate at a regional level as opposed to a local level, and as a result, there is a greater buffer in terms of audience and advertising to help these entities to persevere.
Another challenge facing both newspapers and broadcast stations is the increasing shift toward consolidation in the industry. In 2019, Gannett/Gatehouse Media owned 613 newspapers in the United States, and Digital First/Tribune owned 207 newspapers. Nexstar Media Group owned 42 local broadcast stations. Similar patterns exist in radio, where in 2021 companies such as Cumulus Media (445 stations) and iHeartMedia (855 stations) owned significant shares of the local news market. As the industry continues to face increasing competitive pressure, it is likely that trends of market consolidation will continue. Research shows that this ongoing trend of consolidation can help media companies to produce content more efficiently, but it also tends to result in a decline of local and original media content.
Given the ongoing decline of local journalism, it is increasingly important that researchers track the way in which changes to local news coverage impact communities. A number of large-scale studies have started to track the health of local journalism in the United States and globally. There is evidence that some communities are becoming news deserts, finding that their community no longer has a news outlet covering their specific information needs. A number of variables impact the emergence of news deserts. For instance, large cities employ an increasing percentage of professional journalists, and as a result, there is a lack of professional journalists working in small- and medium-sized communities. Other factors impact the emergence of news deserts, specifically when considering the nature of a given community.
Local Journalism and Community
With local journalism declining in many communities, there is cause for concern. Local journalism is part of the lifeblood of a given community. In 2012 the Federal Communications Commission established eight categories served by local journalism: emergencies and risks, health, education, transportation systems, environment and planning, economic development, civic information, and political life. Local newspapers have traditionally delivered the most focused and targeted local journalism content. Broadcast and radio stations tend to speak to a broader audience with few directly local stories. Consider, for instance, KARE 11 (NBC affiliate) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The station’s local news coverage focuses on Minneapolis, but there is usually at least one or two stories each night that focus on another region of the state. Thus, the coverage is not directly local, but it may cover local issues from time to time depending on where audience members live.
When there are declines in the production and consumption of local journalism, research demonstrates that there are correlated declines in the level of citizen knowledge, community engagement, and participation in elections. For example, local journalism within a given community provides a key channel for citizens to gain access to information about local elections for mayor, or for school board. The same media outlets also provide citizens with information about key issues facing the town and school board. The loss of this type of media coverage leaves a significant gap in available community information. Furthermore, community coverage keeps citizenry aware of community events; this type of basic reporting is a key driver of community engagement, and the absence of this coverage leads directly to a decline in levels of community engagement.
Local Journalism and Democracy
Local journalism is inextricably linked with the growth and maintenance of a healthy democracy. Local journalism contributes to an informed citizenry; consumption of local news has been linked in research to increased participation rates in local elections.
Declines in the number of local journalism outlets in a given geographic region, hand-in-hand with declines in the quality of local journalism, have notable negative effects on local government. For instance, in communities where local journalism outlets have closed, research shows that there tends to be an increase in government costs. Local journalism outlets often occupy a watchdog function, holding government leaders accountable and ensuring transparency. There is also a decline in participation in local politics; at a basic level, local journalism keeps community members aware of political events within a community, and that awareness drives involvement. In the absence of that function, a decline in participation is likely to occur.
At the same time, there is evidence that local journalism is becoming increasingly partisan and polarized, following the pattern seen in national media. Hyperpartisan websites featuring local journalism have started to emerge, with the ownership and sponsorship of these sites left intentionally opaque in order to obscure underlying motivations. The rise of hyperpartisan websites can be harmful for a couple of reasons. First, these sites tend to focus on polarizing and often misleading news articles. Second, the influx of highly partisan content fosters a culture of distrust with regard to local journalism. In sum, there is a clear connection between local journalism, democracy, and civic engagement.
The Future of Local Journalism
As local journalism struggles to compete in the face of increased competition for audience time, declining advertising revenue, and for resources needed to produce local news such as talented reporters, the future of the industry remains uncertain. The future of local journalism is complicated by the rise of alternate forms of dissemination and production. Online news outlets, mobile news apps, and social media outlets each offer new forms of production and distribution for local journalism. In addition, algorithms underlying much of this technology promise to automate some aspects of local journalism production and distribution. At the same time, there is concern about the impacts of automating local journalism. For example, some producers of local journalism such as Gannett and Tribune have experimented with automation of the production of some content such as sports box scores and financial reporting. Researchers have raised additional concerns about the accuracy and the reliability of automated reporting. Furthermore, as algorithms are used to augment the production of local journalism, there is a concern that the increased use of such technology will replicate existing societal biases.
While some focus on concerns regarding technology and automation, others have turned attention to policy solutions to help support local journalism. For instance, the state of New Jersey recently established the Civic Information Consortium to award small grants to local news organizations with the aim of helping to support new business models. Similarly, a state commission in Massachusetts was recently established to look at policy actions that could be taken to help bolster local journalism efforts in the state. While the future of local journalism continues to remain in flux, technological developments and policy changes may help support new forms of local journalism. Regardless, it is clear that local journalism serves a critical function within modern society, but that the nature of local journalism will continue to evolve.
The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Journalism.