January 24, 2025

By Karen Rundlet, CEO & Executive Director

The show at the local theatre likely won’t make national headlines. Neither will the city council’s plans to repair the potholes you hit on your daily commute. But both stories are examples of meaningful community news that often gets short shrift.

As local newspapers continue to shutter (at the rate of more than two per week), about 55 million Americans — 15 percent of the population — have been left without access to local news. In this void, residents are more reliant on national (often quite partisan) media and are less informed about their community and each other.

Local news is an infrastructure to a functioning, healthy community. Our kids attend local schools, which are the future of any community. We drive on local roads or take local public transportation. We exercise and gather with family and friends at local parks. We patronize local grocery stores. We attend community events and activities offering space to laugh together and root for the same team.

Without local information about government, education and the arts, we don’t see our neighbors as they are. We’re not informed about local concerns, and that pulls us apart.

Over the past 15 years, membership in the Institute for Nonprofit News has grown from 27 founding members that specialized in investigative reporting to more than 475 members, of which 48 percent are local news organizations. Another 26 percent of the INN Network focuses on state and regional coverage, and those members that cover national and global issues tend to do so from the ground up, partnering with local news organizations and building relationships with community members rather than parachuting in for the headline.

INN members are embracing traditional techniques like investigative reporting and newer approaches like solutions journalism while also innovating and rethinking what journalism as a public good looks like.

Many INN members focus on serving marginalized communities that historically have not been prioritized by mainstream news outlets. They are finding innovative ways to meet people where they are, beyond a printed page or screen, to share essential information about the relevant government actions and local happenings. Documented, which covers immigration in the New York area, is active on WhatsApp and devotes time to listening and responding to its audiences’ needs to build trust. That’s really different from what “traditional journalism” used to do.

The Kansas City Defender’s mission involves not only reporting news but also mutual aid. They have fundraised to give Black families money for groceries at a local store. The Montana Free Press is doing incredible investigative work on state government, but they’re also taking an accountability journalism approach to reporting on local politics across the state

Those are just three examples, of many, that show how INN members are prioritizing local news and community engagement. The examples also underscore that local news outlets don’t just report news; they are integral to the health of the communities they serve. Journalists and other staff at those news organizations are community members. They’re invested in local matters because when things go wrong, it also affects them, their family, friends and neighbors.

That connection, the interwoven fates of our communities and ourselves, is what we aim to protect when we support local news with our attention and our dollars.

More robust local news won’t fix all the problems in our society and nation or erase all that divides us. It can make us more aware of our shared stakes in the community, the issues affecting our lives, and all that unites us.

Karen Rundlet is the Executive Director & CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News, which is celebrating 15 years building the nonprofit news movement: watch the 3-minute video.