As digital news pioneers observed, ‘local doesn’t scale.’ Any solution to the local news crisis is going to involve reporters and editors who are creative and smart about what works for their readers.
There are lots of ideas about how to save local news. One of them is that increasing coverage of local politics will bring back readers and viewers. Research shows that it doesn’t.
The local news crisis is more than a problem of shuttered newsrooms and laid-off journalists. It’s a democracy crisis. And public radio can help fix it. But it needs more money and staff to do that.
Local media ownership brings a level of accountability to the news business and offers benefits to communities by increasing voter turnout, reducing polarization and saving communities money.
Public relations and journalism have always existed in an uneasy balance. Social media and low revenues are shifting that balance in favour of PR, creating a lack of trust in the news.
Americans truly value local news. But 71% think that their local news outlets are doing just fine financially – which might explain why only 14% paid for a local news source in the past year.
Thunder Bay has received national press for its historically inequitable relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Local journalism could help the city face those challenges.
Ottawa must decide how to spend the $50 million it’s allocated to support local journalism. The establishment of a Local News Data Lab would be a good start. Here’s how it might work.