Local television stations across the United States are shuttering at an unprecedented rate. In markets that once had three competing nightly newscasts, many now have one — or none. The economics are brutal: ad revenue has migrated to digital platforms, production costs haven't fallen, and legacy station groups are carrying debt loads from the acquisition frenzy of the 2010s.
What replaces them matters enormously. Digital-native local outlets — some nonprofit, some for-profit — have stepped in, but their reach is a fraction of what broadcast once commanded. Facebook and NextDoor fill some of the hole, but with no editorial standards. The result is a patchwork coverage landscape where a local corruption story may go unreported simply because no one with a camera and a deadline is watching.
This isn't a media industry story. It's a democracy story.
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