And it’s not just rural America that’s seen a decline in local news. Communities closest to large media markets—such as New York, Washington or Los Angeles—have the least robust local journalism, the study found. “Content tends to flow from large markets to smaller markets, which can discourage consumption of local journalism,” Napoli said.
New Jersey, for example, lives in the shadow of both New York and Philadelphia. Sandwiched between large media markets, the state has struggled to lure journalists to cover local news for smaller outlets. Even inside the nation’s biggest media hub, outlets that cover local events are suffering. The New York Daily News halved its staff in July, and the Village Voice, a legendary investigator of malfeasance in New York City and Albany, officially died last weekend. In Washington, a slew of newspapers have shuttered, too.
Within urban, suburban and rural areas, minority communities remain the most underserved by local news coverage. The Duke study found that regions with large Hispanic populations in particular received less robust local journalism.
“Local news outlets play a vital role in the daily lives of communities who are often ignored by mega-media companies that are disconnected geographically and culturally,” said Hugo Balta, the president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, in an email. “The regionalization of content production, a failed one-size-fits-all practice, is irrelevant to already underserved communities like Hispanics, especially in small markets where information about local government, education, health and other important issues is indispensable.”
“The public is suffering,” Balta said.
There is some good news, though—local news media still garners more public trust than its national counterparts. More than 7 in 10 Americans report they trust their local newspapers and television stations, while barely half say the same about national outlets, according to the Poynter Institute. But this could change, warned Murray.
“Building trust is a human-to-human endeavor,” Murray said. “I’m worried we’re going to see an erosion of trust in local media as the number of journalists on the ground in local communities declines.”
In New Jersey, the crisis has spurred government leaders to allocate $5 million to revive and strengthen local media. “Long term, this is a drop in the bucket,” Murray said. “But short term this could spur some amazing projects.” Community Impact Newspaper has also attempted to fill the gaps in small communities surrounding media-rich cities including Houston, Austin and Dallas.
Report for America, a journalism nonprofit modeled after AmeriCorps and Teach for America, has sought to bolster understaffed regional outlets by deploying 1,000 journalists to their newsrooms by 2022. But news media experts said this only scratches the surface of what’s needed to rehabilitate local media. “We’ve seen foundations and universities jump into this space, but we need more at the policy level,” said Napoli, who believes public funding could alleviate the local news crisis.
There may be little chance of that in the current political environment. The U.S. already spends very little government money on the media compared with other countries. Norway spends about $140 per capita each year on its public broadcasters, according to media consulting firm Nordicity. The U.K. spends $88, and Canada spends $22. The U.S., however, spends under $3.