Let's Give Local Journalism a Chance

Local news publishing is in steep decline, and that should worry us all—but particularly conservatives.

This may come as a surprise to those who assume that all news media are liberal, but if you live outside of a major city, think for a moment about your small- to mid-sized hometown newspaper, not The New York Times. This kind of journalism—local papers that are rooted in communities—is disappearing, and the places most at risk of losing their local news are places where a lot of conservatives happen to live.

COVID-19 has wrought havoc on newsrooms, and massive layoffs continue to occur at newspapers across the country. But even before the pandemic, the crisis in local journalism was well established. There are more than a few credible studies that have examined the situation, finding that the news media industry saw a 68 percent decrease in its primary source of revenue between 2008 and 2018, and that 47 percent of newsroom staff have been lost since 2004.

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