The health of local news is vital for the communities it serves. Local news reports on issues that directly impact residents, fostering community identity by reflecting their values, culture and concerns. It is also a critical watchdog for government actions and decisions at the local level.
As the need for quality local journalism continues to grow, more news organizations are turning to collaboration and community engagement to stay afloat in today’s shifting media environment. This round-up celebrates some of the best examples of national-local partnerships, civic engagement and solutions journalism.
These stories demonstrate how the future of local news depends on a healthy, vibrant news ecosystem. It starts with a commitment to professional and representative journalism that’s informed by community perspectives, meets citizens’ information needs, and engages readers. It includes diverse staffing, sustainable revenue streams and strategies to reach new audiences as news consumption habits evolve.
When a newspaper closed in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, the town of Williamstown was left with a 15-mile radius without a local paper—a verifiable “news desert.” In 2021, the college newspaper at nearby Grady College (the journalism and mass communication school for the University of Georgia) stepped up to fill the gap. The student editors at the Williamstown Record began reporting on town-specific issues, including racial justice protests and police misconduct.
In Australia, the Seven Network uses regional studios in Maroochydore, Surfers Paradise, Canberra and Bunbury to produce local news bulletins for different markets. In Sweden, the public broadcaster SVT airs a 13-minute standalone local newscast called SVT Nyheter each evening, following Sportnytt, and short local news segments are included in the nationally simulcast morning newscast Aktuellt.