With local news in a free fall, it is more important than ever to inspire a new generation of journalists to cover their local communities.
We work toward this goal every day with emerging journalists through our Report for America program, but the urgency of this moment means we need to widen the circle and also enlist college and even high school journalists to play a role in serving their local communities as reporters.
But how do we in good conscience encourage young people to sign up to be reporters when the industry is in a stunning decline, as recent data consistently and distressingly reveals:
- Nearly two-thirds of the country’s newspaper journalists have vanished since 2005 in a downward spiral on par with the collapse of the steel or coal industry, with a total loss of some 45,000 newspaper reporting jobs.
- Ten local newspapers die every month in America, and as a result, there are now 204 counties across the United States defined as “news deserts” with no local newspaper to inform, enlighten and serve as a watchdog.
- Trust in journalism has plummeted by any measurement from a high point in 1972 when CBS News legend Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America.” Back then two-thirds had a “great deal to fair amount” of trust in the media and, according to Gallup, it is now at a record low of only one-third who feel that way and, for the first time, more people have distrust than trust.
