Layne Bruce, president of the Mississippi Press Association, sent me an email reminding me that Thursday, April 9, is Local News Day.
Attached to the email were various documents advising me on how to promote the value of local news to our readers.
One message states, “It’s Local News Day — a national day of action to uplift the local journalism that keeps our communities connected, informed and strong. You already know how much local news matters. Today, we’re asking you to help spread the word.”
Another message states, “Start local. Local news is common ground. It’s the rare place where the story isn’t red v. blue, it’s what’s happening right here and what it means for your family. When we share facts about our community, it’s easier to disagree without disconnecting.”
I’m all for promoting local news. My entire 45-year career has been devoted to promoting local news. Local news definitely needs promoting because, as it stands, professional local news is dying.
The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago reports, “Almost 40% of all local U.S. newspapers have vanished, leaving 50 million Americans with limited or no access to a reliable source of local news. This trend continues to impact the media industry and audiences nationwide. Newspapers are disappearing at the same rate as in 2024; more than 130 papers shut down in the past year alone . . . Close to 3,500 newspapers have vanished, leaving one in every four Americans with limited access to a local print newspaper.”
Gemini AI reports the following:
Journalism Employment in the U.S.: 2000 vs. 2025
Local Journalism Crisis: In 2002, there were roughly 40 local journalists for every 100,000 residents in the U.S.; by July 2025, that figure fell to 8.2 per 100,000 residents.
Newspaper Job Declines: Total newspaper employment (all roles) has dropped by over 75% since roughly 2000, falling from over 365,000 to roughly 90,000 or fewer by 2025.
Local Journalists vs. Population: While the U.S. population has grown, the number of journalists has plummeted, resulting in over 1,000 counties (one in three) having zero or less than one full-time local journalist.
No doubt there’s a lot of local news posted by people on Facebook, You Tube, NextDoor, Tik Tok, X and other social media sites.
But, to me, real local news is written by a professional journalist who was educated at a journalism school on the proper way to write and verify a news article.
Apparently, the American people seem to be satisfied with Facebook posts rather than properly researched and written news articles published by established news organizations. I think that is a shame.
When I get sick, I go online to research my symptoms. But I still realize the value of medical professionals. I wouldn’t want to treat myself for anything serious.
Many peoplE blame the decline in local news on newspapers themselves being an outdated form of publication. But that ignores the fact that almost every traditional newspaper has long published online.
From my perspective, the decline of local news is caused by deliberate government policy.
The first mistake was Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1996. Section 230 gave legal immunity to Internet platforms that distributed local news posted by third parties to its platform. Never in history has a publishing platform been free from libel and slander laws.
This is a free ticket for the big platforms. They were legally untouchable. Facebook could distribute anything they wanted as long as it was posted by someone else, no matter how slanderous or false. Many of the ills our nation struggles with are directly linked to this horrible law.
There are literally millions of U. S. citizens whose reputation has been damaged by false information distributed on Google, Facebook and the like. Once it’s out there on the Internet, there’s nothing these people can do to salvage their reputation. Section 230 prevents them from suing the platforms.
Can you imagine a newspaper that could print anything it wanted without any fear of libel? That’s the monster we created. And it stems directly from a law passed by Congress.
Secondly, Google scrapes all the content from every website on the Internet and then uses it as its own. The Northside Sun website is scraped hundreds of times an hour by malicious bots that we cannot control or stop, try as we might. There is an entire industry that serves to make malicious bots look like legitimate readers so this theft can continue.
As a result, all the very expensive local original content is stolen and delivered through apps for free. Imagine how difficult it would be for a grocery store to stay in business if all its food was being offered for free in the parking lot next door.
The News Media Alliance has been trying for years to pass a law forcing the major Internet platforms to pay royalties to content producers when their content is used. I have made countless trips to D.C. to lobby our Congressional delegation to get legislation passed. They politely meet with me but nothing gets done. It doesn’t help to have a President who vilifies journalists. He may not mean to hurt local journalists covering a small-town city council meeting, but that’s the result.
Meanwhile, even though Google was declared an illegal monopoly in digital advertising, the federal courts have blocked all efforts to make them pay. It’s 99 for Google and one for the news publisher. Google gets so rich it can buy off both the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. To allow a private monopoly to control the flow of our nation’s information is dangerous.
Once that genie is out of the bottle, it’s very hard to put it back in.
