Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Across the United States, a significant number of communities are experiencing a resurgence in the availability of local news from an evolving range of nonprofit outlets that are carving out a unique hometown niche. In recent decades, competition and changing readership patterns have led to the closure or downsizing of multiple city or state-wide newspapers. At the same time, however, hundreds of local news outlets are springing up to fill the gaps. An October 2025 report counted ‘more than 300 local news startups in the past five years across virtually every state, demonstrating a surge of entrepreneurship that has come along with a wave of philanthropic support’. According to the Institute for Nonprofit News, local outlets now make up 54% of its membership. ‘New growth … continues to skew local’, the institute’s 2026 index reported. ‘All nine outlets that became members and began publishing in 2025 covered local beats,’ as did the vast majority of new members in 2024 and 2023.” (07/06/26)