Local Journalism

For more than a century, local journalism has been taken almost for granted. But the twenty-first century has brought major challenges.The newspaper industry that has historically provided most local coverage is in decline and it is not yet clear whether digital media will sustain new forms of local journalism.

This book provides an international overview of the challenges facing changing forms of local journalism today. It identifies the central role that diminished newspapers still play in local media ecosystems, analyses relations between local journalists and politicians, government officials, community activists and ordinary citizens, and examines the uneven rise of new forms of digital local journalism.Together, the chapters present a multi-faceted portrait of the precarious present and uncertain future of local journalism in the Western world.

“This is a detailed, research-based and comparative account of developments in local news and journalism at a time of structural change and transition in local news ecosystems. It reasserts the significance of local news and journalism for local communities and their economic, political, social and cultural life and sets a benchmark for future studies of local news and journalism during a period of change and uncertainty.”
- Bob Franklin, Professor of Journalism Studies, Cardiff University

“Journalism is changing, nowhere more rapidly than in locally produced news. This book provides an on-the-ground glimpse of these changes as they are taking place across Europe, the UK, and the United States. An invaluable snapshot of a fast-moving process… and an important touchstone for research yet to be done!”
- David Ryfe, Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa

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