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Friend,
Local news plays a fundamental role in our democracy, fostering civic engagement, and holding government officials and corporations accountable. But over the last 15 years, as the internet has transformed how the American public consumes news and technology companies starve local outlets of the ad revenue that once sustained them, local journalism is in a state of crisis.
Since 2004, newspapers have lost 47% of newsroom staff and over 2,000 local newspapers have closed.
In 2018 just 25 companies owned two-thirds of daily newspapers. This massive consolidation of local news outlets, owned by a new generation of media owners—private equity and hedge fund investors—is resulting in less diversity of viewpoints and news that is oftentimes more politically polarized.
Local journalism is a cornerstone of American democracy. And yet, there is no clear financial path forward to keep it afloat.
In a new report titled “Losing the News: The Decimation of Local Journalism and the Search for Solutions,” PEN America calls for a revitalization of local news including a rebalancing of the relationship between tech giants and publishers to ensure a more equitable distribution of profits.
Sign the petition calling on Congress to convene a Commission of Public Support for Local News tasked with evaluating the current state of our local news ecosystem and offering concrete recommendations to address the local news crisis, including plans to create a new public funding mechanism to make local watchdog reporting possible.
In 1965, the non-governmental Carnegie Commission helped establish public broadcasting in the United States. Today, it is time for a radical shift in how we think of journalism—not just as a commercial product, but as a public good, which serves such a vital role in society that it deserves private and public protection and support so our communities can be reflected in the news they read and so people can engage more deeply in our democracy.
The solution to our local news crisis will require an all-of-the-above approach. We will need the public, lawmakers, government regulators, civil society organizations, big tech, and philanthropists to come together to take on the national crisis affecting our local news industry.
Join PEN America and our allies in calling for a congressional commission to protect and rebuild local journalism and the fundamental role that it plays in our democracy.
Thank you for taking action today,
Nora Benavidez
Director of U.S. Free Expression Programs
PEN America
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