Further Reading Recent Research into Local Media and Newspapers
In addition to the academic work on local newspapers and local news more broadly, outside researchers from organizations like the Pew Center for Journalism Excellence, the Knight Foundation, the Federal Communications Commission, and others have all produced in-depth reports on the role and future of local news in American society.
While space limits what we can say of them, we have compiled an inventory of recent studies on local news, which we recommend reading:
Knight Commission (2009), “Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.”
The report that launched interest in the information needs of communities. Among myriad findings, the key takeaway is that the digital age is not serving all communities equally in terms of local news and information.
New America Foundation (2010), “Information Community Case Studies”
Drawing inspiration from the Knight Commission Report, New America Foundation’s Media Policy Initiative set itself on conducting a series of “Community Information Case Studies,” investigating the local news ecosystems of five communities: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Seattle, Washington; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Exhaustive in its review, the authors investigated not only the traditional media voices in the community, but any voice delivering local news and information. This included print media, commercial broadcasting, public broadcasting, internet, social media, libraries, and local government websites. These findings were put into conversation with demographic and education information to address the question: do citizens and communities have all the information they want and need?
Federal Communications Commission (2011), “Information Needs of Communities”
Galvanized by Knight’s report, the Federal Communications Commission conducted a thorough assessment of U.S. local news media. Culminating in “The Information Needs of Communities” (often referred to as the “Waldman Report”) the FCC chronicled the changes in local news by medium (television, radio, print, web, mobile,) and also by cross currents (consumption practices, types of news, diversity).
The report noted the dramatic decline of legacy local news outlets and the corresponding gap in local news coverage, especially around what it called “accountability journalism.” Digital journalism was not picking up the slack as was once hoped, it found. Digital media, the report suggested, had been both a blessing and curse to newspapers—allowing them to experiment with diverse ways of telling a story, but also placing them on the “hamster wheel” of constant production.
Pew Research Center (2011), “How People Learn about Their Local Community”
The Pew Foundation’s report revealed that while newspapers currently remains a key destination for local news and information, most Americans would not miss it if it were to disappear.
The report was one of the first in the digital age to show an emerging generational gap in local news habits. Their research found that if an adult is over forty, then newspapers tend to remain the primary source for local news. If the adult is under forty, then the internet was likely to be the leading news source.
The report simultaneously demonstrates the ongoing decline of newspapers as a source of information, and hints at the emergence of trends—such as the growth of online news media—as a force to be reckoned with.
Communications Policy Research Network (2012), “Critical Information Needs of Communities”
A year after the publication of the Waldman Report, the FCC called for a report on the critical information needs of communities. A group of academics responded by producing a detailed literature review and report summarizing the types of information communities require. Namely: emergency information, health, education, transportation, economic opportunities, environment, civic information, and political information.
Duke Reporters Lab (2014), “The Goat Must Be Fed: Why Digital Tools Are Missing in Most Newsrooms”
The focus with this report, and on the ones that followed, focused less on the overall health of the industry and more specifically on digital technologies, digital adoption, and sustainability. The authors found that the 24/7 news cycle (“feeding the goat”) inhibited editors from experimenting with new digital tools. Similarly, infrastructural and cultural barriers work in concert to stymie the adoption of low cost digital tools. Small newspapers, the study found, are less inclined than their larger counterparts to experiment with digital media.
Phil Napoli (2015), “Assessing the Health of Local Journalism Ecosystems”
While Duke focused on the tools of the trade, Phil Napoli and his team at Rutgers University revisited the questions about the information needs of communities—and the health of local media ecosystems—that were the hallmark of the Knight and FCC publications.
Their first report, on three ecosystems in New Jersey, endeavored to create and test a set of metrics to evaluate “the state of journalism in local communities.” They discovered that local news is often class-based. They concluded, in a finding which seems particularly resonant—and relevant—in the era of Trump’s America:
“Lower-income communities are dramatically underserved relative to wealthier communities, and in which lower-income communities receive the bulk of their news from a smaller range of sources” (page 6).
Pew Research Center (2015), “Local News in a Digital Age”
The Pew Research Center also adopted a case study-centric approach to its analysis of the news media ecosystems in Macon, Sioux City, and Denver. The findings suggest that the plurality of local news choices now available to many audiences diminishes the reliance on legacy media. But news consumers still turn to legacy outlets more than non-traditional outlets. Specifically, local TV continues to command the greatest share of audience attention for local news and information.
Local News Lab (2016), “Lessons Learned from the Local News Lab”
Funded by the Dodge Foundation, the Local News Lab initiative fostered partnerships and experiments across New Jersey’s local news landscape, with a key focus on community engagement.
Key takeaways from these efforts included the potential for crowdsourcing (although caveated that this often only works for “one-off” projects), best practices for community engagement such as listening posts (which use cell phones to drive comments), and fostering a more networked ecosystem.
The report also mentioned the important role that philanthropic groups can potentially play in fostering—and supporting—a robust local news ecosystem.
Democracy Fund (2016), “Local News and Participation Map”
This project revisits the earlier themes around the information needs of communities, participation, and the relationship between local news and democracy, which dominated studies at the start of the decade.
Through its Local News & Participation Map, the project sought to visually chart the “dynamics influencing the public, news outlets, journalists, and others concerned with community information needs.”
Their interactive map allows users to click on a node (such as the “Engagement of the Public in Civic Affairs”) and find additional information such as factors that influence engagement, further research citations, and data.
Penelope Muse Abernathy (2016), “The Rise of a New Media Baron and the Emerging Threat of News Deserts”
Abernathy’s study focuses on the newest trend in newspaper ownership: hedge funds and trusts, and the growing concentration of the newspaper industry more generally.
A key finding here is that hedge fund owners are typically less engaged with the local communities of the newspapers under their control and see them more as an investment to be bought and sold rather than a service.
Michele McLellan, Michele’s List (ongoing)
Michele’s List is a comprehensive repository of hyperlocal news sites across the country. Criteria for being listed are: content (original local news), practices, engagement, frequency, and sustainability.
Sites are searchable through a variety of filters and categories, allowing organizations to connect with one another, and providing researchers with an important database of hyperlocal news organizations.
Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Damian Radcliffe, Christopher Ali, Rosalind Donald, (2017), “Life at Small-Market Newspapers: Results from a Survey of Small-Market Newsrooms”
This study focuses on the use of digital tools and technology at small market newspapers.
Based on a survey with over 400 respondents representing small-market newspapers across the country, the authors found that digital engagement amongst these newspapers is far more complex than has previously given credit.
Penelope Muse Abernathy and the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media (UNC) (2017), “Thwarting the Emergence of News Deserts”
The newest report from Abernathy and her team at the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media focuses on the issue of news deserts—communities devoid of fresh local news and information. It is a collection of studies both updating their previous work and chronicling the role that local news media play in a variety of communities across the country.
Agora Journalism Center, Damian Radcliffe (2017), “Understanding Local News and Civic Engagement in the Pacific Northwest”
Focusing specifically on local news organizations based in the Pacific Northwest, this study highlights the reinvigoration of local journalism in the region through innovative practices as well as digital—and real world—experiments with engagement.