The dearth of local news outlets is affecting campaign coverage as candidates touring states find that there are few journalists at events. “When I started out, twenty years ago, there were multiple reporters at small-town dailies who covered politics,” said Jared Leopold, a Democratic communications consultant. Today it’s hard work to get local coverage especially from local television, crucial to campaigns. (Columbia Journalism Review, September 5, 2024, by Jake Lahut)
A Northwestern University study revealed that an average of 2.5 newspapers failed each week in 2023 with 204 counties nationwide with no local news outlet and 1,562 with one newspaper, most of the time a weekly. (U.S. News & World Report, November 16, 2023, by The Associated Press)