The number of local news deserts expanded in the U.S. this year with 127 newspapers shuttering, leaving nearly 55 million Americans with limited to no access to local news, according to the Medill State of Local News Report 2024 released Oct. 23.
Medill researchers also discovered some reasons for optimism in their annual study of local news outlets: There’s been a net increase of more than 80 stand-alone local digital news sites in the past year.
For the third consecutive year, the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, conducted a nationwide, county-by-county study of local news outlets to help quantify trends in the fast-changing local media landscape.