The Issue

A healthy local news ecosystem provides critical information and strengthens communities, especially in times of crisis. Covering everything from COVID-19 to fraught elections, BIPOC- and locally-owned outlets play a crucial role in their communities.

But chronic underinvestment, compounded by the economic challenges of the past several years, now threaten their very existence.

Since 2004, more than 1,800 communities lost their local news outlet.
In 2020, at least 16,160 newsroom employees lost their jobs.
With the loss of local news, citizens are less politically informed and less likely to vote.
Without local news, it’s extremely difficult to track and amplify public health crises.

Traditional news models often fail to meet the needs of diverse audiences, with the large majority of newsrooms lacking equitable representation.

But the publishers in our coalition are deeply embedded in their communities, providing the news that their readers care about most.

Black-owned newspapers have played a central role in working toward civil rights since the country’s founding, and remain a critical and trusted voice for Black communities in ongoing efforts for racial equality. During countless pandemics, from influenza to AIDS to COVID, Black newspapers have been key distributors of public health information in Black communities while challenging racist narratives and assumptions pushed through mainstream outlets.

Latino-owned newspapers are a critical and trusted source of accurate information for multilingual communities, especially in times of crisis. Latino-owned and Spanish-speaking media outlets often serve first-generation immigrants trying to navigate a new country and understand their rights.

Local alternative news outlets are deeply embedded in the communities they serve, and have unique perspectives, knowledge and sources not found at national outlets that allow them to speak truth to power on issues that matter most to their communities.

COVID-19’s economic impacts have worsened the existing challenges faced by BIPOC and local newsrooms. An industry-wide shift in revenue models has led to the vast majority of digital advertising going to a few large tech companies.

And on top of that, advertising contracts have historically always been more difficult for BIPOC-owned outlets to secure due to racial bias and advertisers’ unwillingness to recognize the buying power in their communities.

Our member publications were significantly, and disproportionately, challenged by the COVID pandemic. There remains an unmet need for relief, capacity-building, and sustaining investment in many local news publishers, particularly those in communities whose local news landscape has been historically underinvested.