Local news outlets disappearing at an alarming rate…What’s next?

While 60 percent of Americans have more trust in local news than national news, local media are disappearing at an alarming rate. We are losing an average of two newspapers per week and by 2025, we will have lost nearly one-third of our local newspapers nationwide, according to a 2022 study done by Northwestern University. Currently about 20 percent of the nation lives in a news desert with little to no access to local news. Will anything replace the dying newspaper population? Local and regional non-profit news organizations are springing up across the country as an alternative. There are various business models for these non-profits depending on the region they serve. Leadership for these new publications is coming from various directions. Some leaders have had long careers in journalism, and some are early in their journalism careers. Regardless of the experience level, many journalists are seeing the revival of hyperlocal news media to be critical to the survival of our democracy. Andy Alexander is a long-time award-winning journalist. He was Washington Bureau Chief for Cox Newspapers and is a former ombudsman for the Washington Post. Today, however, he currently acts as board chair for the Foothills Forum, a non-profit news agency in Rappahannock County, Virginia. Dani Kington is a young journalist who decided to leave mainstream media to be one of the founders of a local news non-profit in Athens, Ohio…a rural part of Appalachia. They both give their perspectives on this new form of journalism and talk about what might be the next steps to saving this valuable form of public media. For more information on the Foothills Forum, visit : https://foothills-forum.org/ Read the Athens Independent here : https://athensindependent.com/