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Northwestern University’s State of Local News Report 2024

January 10, 2025

We are pleased to share with you our full report on the State of Local News 2024, published by the Local News Initiative at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. 

Since 2005, the nation has lost more than a third of all local newspapers and more than two are still vanishing every week. For the first time since we began keeping statistics, our 2024 report chronicled a net increase in both standalone and network digital news sites. These gains, however, have not been unable to compensate for the significant losses of disappearing newspapers. This leaves many communities without any source of local news, especially in rural and less affluent areas. 

The loss of local news contributes to the spread of misinformation, and research also shows it leads to increased government spending, higher borrowing costs, more corruption and less participation in local elections. In addition to mapping news deserts and studying their effects, the Medill Local News Initiative used predictive modeling to create a Watch List of counties at high risk of losing local news. We hope this list can help prevent even more counties from becoming news deserts. 

For the second consecutive year, the Local News Initiative also profiled a new group of local news “Bright Spots,” highlighting outlets around the country that have business models showing promise for a sustainable future. 

To learn more about Medill’s State of Local News Project, please visithttps://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/. If you have questions or comments about the report, please e-mail us at localnewsinitiative@northwestern.edu.  

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