The changing media landscape has made it more difficult for small publications to survive. Increasing usage of digital platforms and social media as a news source has made it difficult for local news outlets to keep the attention of their readers. Algorithms on these platforms are designed to grab users’ attention away from more traditional news feeds. However, local news is necessary because hyper local information needs to be disseminated, such as school closures due to weather, local dangers, and small events that a national news producer will not deem profitable to cover. For example, recently, the Morongo Unified School District had to close because of the smoke from the Big Bear fire (Luis and Avila, 2024). Without local news coverage, people who do not have access to the internet or who do not think to look on the internet for local news would not know when the schools closed and when they planned to open. In addition, people in less populated areas need to feel like their lives are important, so coverage of things like football games, homecoming dances, graduation ceremonies, or profiles of prominent individuals need an outlet. Local politics, like races for city council, also need more attention than a big news outlet will give them. National outlets lack the capacity to provide this type of personal, community-centered coverage.

Part of staying relevant in this new, social-media-dominated landscape is to participate in it: local outlets need to be spreading their stories on social media and engaging with users to connect with their audience. Social media allows communities to have conversations about local events, strengthening community connections and belonging. Local news outlets can also use technological developments like apps and push notifications to make sure that they can reach their internet-savvy readership in real time when something important happens. In addition to reaching their readers where they are, local news also needs to stay relevant nationally so that it keeps getting read and can retain advertisers. Technology has changed the role of local news; it now needs to function as both a local and national source. To do this, coverage of national or worldwide events can get a local spin. This can mean covering the story of a person in the local area who is directly affected by a national or worldwide event or by highlighting how such events affect the local area. For example, KESQ in Palm Springs provided brief coverage of local watch parties held for the Harris vs. Trump debate. Another option for staying relevant is to incorporate national news feeds into local coverage to keep residents informed of what is going on in the world. Though technology has posed a threat to the way local outlets typically disseminated news, these outlets can also use technology to supplement their offerings with national stories simply by threading stories from national feeds like CNN directly into their releases. This way, locals can come to their trusted local source for all of their news, and the local news source does not have to spend time and manpower covering something that has already been covered well by a national source.

References

King, T. (2024). Supporters host local watch parties for first Harris-Trump Presidential debate. KESQ. https://kesq.com/news/2024/09/10/supporters-host-local-watch-parties-for-first-harris-trump-presidential-debate/

Reyes, J., & Avila, L. (2024). Morongo Unified School District schools will have classes on Friday after multi-day closure related to air quality. KESQ. https://kesq.com/news/2024/09/11/morongo-unified-school-district-schools-will-have-classes-on-friday-after-multi-day-closure-related-to-air-quality/