Amid widespread concern about the state of the news media, local journalism remains a bright spot. In communities across the country, nonprofit news organizations are filling a gap in local coverage and rebuilding trust with readers by serving as watchdogs, a forum for civil debate and a vehicle to tell the stories that matter to residents.
But the landscape for local news is changing rapidly. In recent years, a significant share of Americans have stopped getting their local news from daily newspapers – and many others are reading less of it. Those changes have occurred as newspaper circulation and revenue have declined and as the digital environment has come to dominate the news ecosystem.
Fewer people say they at least sometimes get their local news from a newspaper (26%) or through TV (23%). Instead, the vast majority of people who get their local news report that they do so online (whether through a website, app, email or social media post) – an increasingly common pattern.
Most Americans who regularly get local news report that they are satisfied with the quality of their sources. Nearly three-quarters of those who get news about the weather, for example, are extremely or very satisfied with their local news, while similar shares say they are very or somewhat satisfied with news on other topics they get locally: traffic and transportation, schools and government and politics.
In 2022, we surveyed residents of nearly 1,300 communities to gauge their level of satisfaction with local news. Among those that were surveyed, most said their local news does a good job of keeping them informed about their community and its leaders, holding public officials accountable and providing a platform for citizens to voice their concerns.
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