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America's Newspapers · The Trade Organization for Local Newspapers

Strong local communities need strong local reporting. And local newspapers deliver.

Editorials & Opinions Privacy Issues Public Notices

218M

Americans engage with local newspapers every month — 84% of adults, in print and digital

Local News Study · Coda Ventures

#1

most trusted for local news — ahead of every national outlet and every digital platform

Trust in Media Study, 2024

87%

say local newspaper journalists do an excellent or good job explaining their community

Trust in Media Study, 2024

56%

of adults use local newspaper advertising to decide where they spend

Shopper & Advertising Study, 2024

01

A healthy community needs a healthy local newspaper.

Every strong community runs on local information. Who's hiring. What the council passed. How the team did. Where the money's going. When the roads close, when the schools open, when the storm is coming.

02

Local newspapers are the difference.

Local isn't a section of the paper. It's the entire operation. Reporters who live where they report. Coverage of places no one else covers. In many small and mid-sized markets, the local newspaper is the only newsroom producing original local reporting at all.

03

Trust is the local newspaper advantage.

01 Transparent, unbiased reporting The single quality Americans say drives trust most — and the one local newspapers are recognized for first.

02 Ethical and professional standards Named sources, corrections in the open, editors who answer for the work.

03 Genuine investment in the community Coverage driven by what the community needs to know — not what an algorithm decides it should see.

04 Reporting people can check against their own lives Readers see the meeting, the game, the street. Local coverage is verified every day, by everyone it serves.

Source: America's Newspapers Trust in Media Study, 2024 · 3,019 U.S. adults

04

Local newspaper advertising drives local business.

The restaurant, the dealership, the clinic, the hardware store — local businesses reach local customers through the local paper, and it moves them. A majority of American adults use newspaper advertising to decide where they spend, in print and online.

05

Local newspapers are worth the investment.

Original local reporting

Meetings attended. Records examined. Stories no one else is telling — produced here, about here.

Independent judgment

Coverage decided by what readers need to know, answerable to no outside agenda.

A community served, consistently

A real place, covered every day — not an audience assembled for clicks, but a community answered to.

Accountability in the open

Named ownership, public standards, corrections on the record. Readers can hold the paper to its word.

And local newspapers are not standing still. Digital subscriptions, newsletters, podcasts, events, new revenue models — built alongside the reporting, tested every day with real audiences at real scale. Innovation in local news did not begin with startups, and experimentation has never belonged only to new ventures.

" Strengthening what a community already trusts is the fastest path to protecting what it can't afford to lose. "

Strong local communities need strong local reporting. And local newspapers deliver.

America's Newspapers is the trade organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening local newspapers — through advocacy, research, and programs that keep local reporting strong in communities across the country. newspapers.org