The invaluable Medill Local News Initiative 2024 report is out. Mostly very bad news, with some signs of hope:
--"Newspapers continue to disappear at a rate of more than two per week; in the past year alone, 127 newspapers have shut...Since 2005, more than 3,200 print newspapers have vanished."
--"208 counties without any news source, up from 204 last year, & 1,563 counties with only 1 source... Almost 55 million people have limited to no access to local news."
--The number of counties on their "watch list" grew by 51 counties (from 228 to 279)
--"From 2022 to 2023, newsroom jobs – mostly reporters and editors – decreased by almost 2,000 positions while newspaper employment overall shrank by more than 7,000 jobs, compared to the few hundred lost in the previous year." Since 2005, a decline of more than 60%
By the way, as the number of reporters has declined, the population has grown. In 2005 there were 25 “newspaper newsroom employees” per 100,000 people (BLS). In 2023, the number was 9, a 66% drop (Rebuild Local News estimate)
--"A loss of a more than 40 ethnic media outlets
--Some good news: there were more startups than closures, a net increase of 81. Often not in the same places as the closures. But shows that with more support – from readers, philanthropy and gov’t – we can turn this around.
https://lnkd.in/eCNXSuN5