The State of Local News 2022

Expanding News Deserts, Growing Gaps, Emerging Models

There is a growing divide between communities that have local news and those without.

The country is continuing to lose newspapers, and most struggling communities that lose a paper are not getting a print or digital replacement. New Medill research on the state of local news in 2022 finds a fifth of the population live in a news desert or in a community at risk of becoming one. Here’s what is working and where there are gaps in the flow of reliable and timely news that threaten democracy and society.

Contents

Research Faculty and Staff

This research was overseen by Senior Associate Dean Tim Franklin, John M. Mutz Chair in Local News and director of the Local News Initiative, and Penelope Muse Abernathy, visiting professor at Northwestern University and primary author of the report.

Penelope Muse Abernathy

Adviser

Penelope Muse Abernathy, a visiting professor at Northwestern University, is a former senior executive at The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, who specializes in researching local journalism. She is the author of two books and five reports, including The State of Local News (Northwestern University: 2022).

Zach Metzger

Director – State of Local News Project

Metzger leads the State of Local News Project at Medill, overseeing the data collection, analysis and reporting on the landscape of local news. He previously researched local news at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where he completed his PhD in 2024. Before joining the State of Local News Project, Metzger worked as a data analyst in the environmental industry.

Tim Franklin

Professor and John M. Mutz Chair in Local News

Franklin was the founding director of the Medill Local News initiative, a research and development project designed to bolster the sustainability of local news. Before joining Medill, Franklin was President of The Poynter Institute. He's been the top editor of The Indianapolis Star, Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun. He was a Washington Managing Editor of Bloomberg News. He was an associate managing editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He was appointed to the bipartisan Illinois Local Journalism Task Force. He’s been named a distinguished alumnus of the Indiana University Media School.

Greg Burns

Former Editor

Burns was the second website editor for the Medill Local News Initiative. Before that, Burns served as Editorial Board member, columnist and business editor at the Chicago Tribune and as a reporter for BusinessWeek magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times. He continues to contribute editorials to the Chicago Tribune.

Grace Miserocchi

Writer

Miserocchi earned an MSJ from Medill in 2021. She is a freelance writer and editor. Previously, she worked as a news designer for several publications at Tribune Publishing and Gannett.

Nicole Tan

Research Assistant

Tan is a junior at Northwestern University majoring in journalism and legal studies. She was previously a reporter at the Medill Investigative Lab and the South China Morning Post, where she won an award for her coverage of a charity event celebrating Asian culture. She was also a print managing editor at The Daily Northwestern.

The web presentation was designed by Medill Associate Professor Zach Wise and Knight Lab Executive Director Joe Germuska.