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Our latest print issue explores the state of local press—“one of America’s great national institutions,” in the words of CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope. From America’s news deserts to an in-depth profile of Gannett (one of the country’s largest publishers of local newspapers), we explore both the problems facing local news organizations and the implications for our country if they falter.
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Articles in this issue:
The pleasure and pain of going nonprofit
Startup newsrooms have the freedom to dig deep, but money worries never end
America’s growing news deserts
As local newspapers have closed across the country, more and more communities are left with no daily local news outlets at all.
In search of a local news solution
Our Editor in Chief and Publisher Kyle Pope explains why we chose local news as the subject of the issue.
Gannett and the last great local hope
As Gannett ties its newspapers into a national network, how local can local newsrooms remain?
The Facebook rescue that wasn’t
Facebook has done nothing to support a sustainable digital future for local journalism.
Trump and trickle-down press persecution
Trump’s anti-press antics might hurt local press, considering what press freedom experts told us.
Oy, the TRAFFIC. And it’s POURING! Do I hear SIRENS?
Local TV news has a problem. The issue isn’t partisanship, a lack of resources or “fake news.” The problem is that it’s lame.
When local stopped being cool
Michael Oreskes, senior vice president of news and editorial director at NPR, on the importance of and decline in, local news.
The poet editor of West Marin
Profile of Tess Elliott, the editor of Pulitzer-winning Point Reyes Light.
Finding common ground over barbecue
After readers of the York Daily Record attacked the paper as “fake news,” editors invited them for a chat.
Your tax dollars at work
How local governments could help create new media companies rather than footing the bill to keep zombie newspapers alive.
Where have all the black digital publishers gone?
The local-news funding surge has bypassed ethnic media.
Covering Standing Rock
A sense of history and hardship sets Lakota newspapers apart from the mainstream media.
Leading journalists remember their hometown newspapers
We asked well-known journalists to tell us about the hometown papers that helped define what they think about when they hear the word “newspaper.”
Is the quest for profits and clicks killing local news?
Everyone acknowledges the importance of local news. No one wants to admit that news organizations are helping to kill it.
An island moneymaker that knows everybody’s secrets
While many local and weekly papers have struggled, the I&M has remained a moneymaker and an asset in the portfolios of several deep-pocketed parents.
A nonprofit newsroom rescued its local newspaper. Now it wants to expand.
Inside Charlottesville Tomorrow’s partnership with The Daily Progress.
The new meaning of new media
In Miami, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, entrepreneurs are luring young readers with newsletters and parties.
Small newsrooms in out-of-the-way places
We highlight journalists working in nontraditional newsrooms.
Pursuing big dreams, Halberstam started small
Even at 21, he had a keen sense for the next story. In 1955 he headed to a tiny newspaper in Mississippi.
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