When a Fort Worth, Texas, voter with disabilities couldn’t access curbside voting during a rainstorm, that citizen turned to the local newspaper. Within days of the Fort Worth Report’s investigation, election officials sent urgent memos to poll workers, and umbrellas appeared at polling sites across the area. This is just one example of what local news does when it works, and what communities nationwide lose when it doesn’t.
The crisis is staggering. Since 2005, 3,500 newspapers have closed — a little more than two a week in the last year — leaving 212 counties with no news source and nearly half of America’s counties with only one. Fifty million Americans now have limited to no access to local news, and more than 270,000 newspaper jobs have vanished. At its core, this is a market failure.
The consequences extend far beyond empty newsrooms. Local news is “democracy’s immune system” — a lever that provides the shared facts communities need to make decisions, holds public officials accountable, delivers reliable information during emergencies, and weaves communities together. When local news disappears, so does the foundation for informed civic life. Right now, the immune systems of many communities are being dangerously weakened.
Research from Syracuse University shows that when a local newspaper closes, split-ticket voting drops nearly 2 percent as residents turn to national news and partisan sources. Communities without strong local news also see less civic engagement and increased government corruption.
With local news, however, the opposite is possible — in one 2019 experiment, when a California newspaper dropped national politics from its opinion page for a month, social polarization measurably slowed in that community.
The good news is that Americans are refusing to accept the decline in local news as inevitable, and are instead beginning to view it as a public good — similar to how we view other civic institutions that are essential to our communities. Through strategic philanthropic investment in proven newsroom models, we’re seeing what becomes possible when communities commit to sustainable solutions.
Texas offers a powerful example.
When More Perfect launched, providing access to trusted news and information was one of its five Democracy Goals. The American Journalism Project was founded in response to both a crisis and an opportunity: new sustainable models were emerging nationwide that needed strategic investment and hands-on support to scale.
Last week, leaders from philanthropies, news outlets and community organizations convened at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to spotlight solutions to the local news crisis. The gathering, which included remarks by President Bush, underscored that rebuilding local journalism is essential to informed citizenship. What emerged offers a roadmap for how America can rebuild its local news
infrastructure.
The Texas Tribune, which is supported by the American Journalism Project, is a national model for sustainable nonprofit journalism. During the recent state legislative session, the Tribune’s coverage was cited in 24 bills, half introduced by Republicans, half by Democrats. In an era of political division, this bipartisan recognition shows what’s possible when newsrooms focus on facts and problem-solving.
In addition, the Tribune is building a network of newsrooms in communities across Texas to promote local coverage. It’s a model that newsrooms nationwide are implementing and adapting, like in California, Ohio and the Deep South.
The Fort Worth Report, another nonprofit local news organization in AJP’s portfolio, launched in 2021 as a cornerstone institution in the nation’s 11th-largest city. The Report weaves the community together through coverage that ranges from government accountability to features like its “Faces of Community” series, through which residents nominated unsung heroes, a motorcycle club founder raising millions for children’s charities, a former police officer who found renewed purpose at the public library, and a veteran restoring a neglected park. They remind us that service is deep in the American DNA.
These local news organizations share effective leadership, track records of innovation, community trust, and readiness to absorb further investment. They’re not asking for charity: they’re offering investible opportunities with proven returns, measured not just in readers and revenue but in civic health and democratic resilience.
At the Bush Center summit, philanthropic leaders committed resources to support these proven models. The lessons extend far beyond Texas. Whether in rural Pennsylvania, suburban Arizona or urban Michigan, the fundamentals remain the same: communities need innovative local news organizations with sustainable business models and deep community ties.
The urgency is national. If we don’t act in communities across America, we risk deeper polarization, less effective problem-solving, and a culture of corruption and fear. When we do invest in proven models and emerging organizations, we don’t just save local news, we strengthen democracy. The momentum is building. The American Journalism Project now supports 53 organizations in 37 states and Puerto Rico; last year, 86 percent of its portfolio of local news organizations grew. Combined with Press Forward’s 42 local news chapters in 31 states, the field has mobilized half a billion dollars for sustainable local news in just a few years. This is effective philanthropy in action: strategic capital meeting proven leadership to rebuild an essential infrastructure.
As we enter this giving season, we have a direct ask: subscribe to your local news outlet. If they’re a nonprofit, make a tax-deductible donation. If you already subscribe, increase your contribution or provide a subscription for a neighbor. These organizations depend on community support to survive.
We ended our convening by reflecting on what Alexis de Tocqueville observed nearly two centuries ago when he traveled to America to understand what made its democracy work. He observed the critical role newspapers played, writing: “To suppose that they only serve to protect freedom would be to diminish their importance: they maintain civilization.”