OVERSIGHT
The Coronavirus Could Mean the End of Local News
With newspapers experiencing declining ad revenues, senators proposed relief for local newsrooms in the next stimulus bill
Day in and day out, local newsrooms are doing heroic work in the face of the coronavirus. On-the-ground coverage has been crucial for communities looking to stymie outbreaks and for hospital workers who lack critical protective gear. Journalists have been declared “essential” workers in states that are on lockdown. And as online outlets drop their paywalls, more Americans than ever are relying on reporters to get them vital information. No surprise, then, that traffic to news websites is surging, with some local outlets seeing 100% gains in readership.
Yet the coronavirus is ravaging the local news industry to the point where it might never recover.
The list of newspapers and media outlets laying off employees is so long and varied that it’s hard to keep track. On Poynter’s ever-updating blog listing all the layoffs, pay cuts, and furloughs in the news industry, it takes more than a half-dozen scrolls of the mouse to reach the bottom of the list.
Despite the spike in readership, advertising to newspapers has vanished almost overnight—a 30% to…
