23 Oct The Decline of Local News: Its Impact on Democracy and Brands Today
By David Evans
Media Analyst, Reputation Leaders
The state of local news
Local news is in decline. In the UK approximately 300 local news outlets have closed over the past two decades. Across the Atlantic, two-fifths of local news has disappeared over the same period leaving 50 million Americans in a news desert, according to The State of Local News Report.
The digitisation of our news consumptions plays a significant role in this decline. Between 2018 and 2024 print and television consumption fell as news sources among Americans, while social media, news websites, and apps have shot up to take their place. Many local news outlets, underfunded and set in their ways, didn’t make the digital shift in time.
We the People: Grumpy, divided, and disengaged
So why is this a cause for concern? When local news is absent people switch to a diet of national news only. National news has a higher ratio of negative to positive stories and is generally more partisan in contrast to the more positive, community, and consensus focus of local news. A 2024 study, among others, found that local newspaper closures were tied to increased political polarization and another demonstrated that local news coverage of local politics is linked to greater voter participation in local elections. In short, the decline in local news is making us all more polarized, pessimistic, and disengaged.
There is hope, however, in one growing segment: digital-only local news. This lean form of journalism start up is growing in the US and demonstrates an updated form of local journalism is viable. It remains concentrated in urban areas, however, and the challenge of the next decade will be bringing this model to rural news deserts. A local digital journalism revival could act as a necessary remedy to the past two decades of news desertification and societal polarisation.
Flexible in your methods, steadfast in your values
What are the implications of this trend for brands? I’ve been analysing how brands are discussed in the news and on social media for a decade. Two implications stand out.
Your values need not be trending
The first is how polarised discussion has become. Brands can quickly become ideological battlegrounds, in which consumers take sides. Brand loyalty and boycotts have become expressions of political identity.
While many brands rightfully bemoan this trend, the biggest danger is the actions of brands themselves. Many brands shift from one political end to another. Championing diversity one moment and then eradicating DEI policies the next. Ultimately consumers don’t punish advocates, they punish apostates.
Consumers are disappointed by brands that flip from one ideological end to another or simply don’t live up to their stated values, e.g., greenwashing. Our own research revealed that consumers don’t expect CEOs to always take sides. It’s acceptable for brands to hold the centre and it’s okay to have values that align with a conservative base or progressive.
It’s consistently delivering on values, whatever they may be, through action and over the long-term that is key. When we asked 1,000 Americans what social actions US companies should take, acting with integrity (delivering what they promise), ranked highest.
Broadcasting is dead, the future is conversation
A second trend is that it used to be that brands who were engaged in community work would receive their laurels in positive local news coverage. That’s rarely the case now. Now the key to promoting community philanthropy work is choosing partners who are active on social media. It’s mayors, school principals, coaches, and community leaders who share the work with their networks that create positive organic coverage and engagement.
Broadcasting is dead, the future is conversation. For brands this means relying less on press releases and more on invitations for leaders and communities to share their experience on socials. Asking people to post and tag your brand so you can reshare on your stories is one strategy. The methods that work are those that frame your brand not as the topic of conversation, but as a space for conversation.