📉 Small publishers hurting the most from collapse in search

Plus: Behind the scenes at a modern city magazine, the business of saving community newspapers, and building a sustainable local news engine in Edmonton

Author

Paul Gewuerz
March 19, 2026

Your weekly briefing on business, policy, trends, and more in the local media industry

Good morning, here’s what’s in the newsletter this week:

⇒ Small publishers hurting the most from collapse in search

⇒ Local meteorologists going solo

⇒ A newspaper owner putting his money where his mouth is

⇒ AP expands local news support

…. and this week on the Small Press, Big Ideas podcast:

🎬 Behind the scenes at a modern city magazine

🗞 The business of saving community newspapers

⚙️ Building a sustainable local news engine in Edmonton

📉 Small publishers hurting the most from collapse in search

According to Axios, small publishers are getting crushed by the collapse in search traffic, with Chartbeat data showing a 60% drop over two years while big publishers have held up better through direct traffic, email, and stronger brands. AI chatbots are sending more clicks than before, but they still drive less than 1% of publisher referrals, so they are nowhere close to replacing what search used to deliver.

🌩️ Local meteorologists going solo

More meteorologists are leaving traditional TV jobs to build independent brands online, where they can connect directly with audiences and avoid newsroom constraints. These indie forecasters are finding financial success through subscriptions, sponsorships, and social platforms, signaling a shift in how weather coverage reaches people.

📰 A newspaper owner putting his money where his mouth is

This piece highlights how Frank Blethen spent much of his family’s wealth to keep The Seattle Times independent, betting that local ownership still matters as the news industry struggles to survive. His long fight reflects both the steep financial cost of saving a newspaper and a deep belief that strong local journalism is essential to democracy.

🚀 AP expands local news support

The Associated Press is expanding its local news support program to 100 newsrooms, up from 50, aiming to strengthen coverage in underserved communities across the U.S. The move builds on earlier success and reflects growing urgency to sustain local journalism as many outlets face staffing cuts and financial strain.

Meet LocalPod Studio: the podcast platform for local newsrooms

LocalPod.co is launching LocalPod Studio: the audio platform built for local media.

LocalPod Studio makes it simple for newsrooms to turn written reporting into distributed podcasts. A publisher can paste or upload a script, generate the audio, and publish an episode that goes out to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else.

We’re opening early access to a small group of founding newsrooms who want to help shape the platform before it launches publicly.

👉 See the demo and join the waitlist: app.localpod.co

Small Press, Big Ideas

A podcast about the business of local news

🎬 Behind the scenes at a modern city magazine

First on the podcast this week I sat down with with Todd Lemke, publisher and owner of Omaha Magazine. Todd shares the story of how he moved from selling real estate in the early 1980s to building one of Omaha’s most recognized lifestyle media brands.

The conversation explores how local city magazines have evolved over the past four decades, how diversified revenue keeps independent media sustainable, and why niche publishing has remained resilient even as traditional newspapers struggled.

🗞 The business of saving community newspapers

I spoke with Jerry Raehal, who has spent his career inside community newspapers across Colorado, Wyoming, Louisiana, and now Nebraska. In this conversation he shares what he has learned about turning struggling papers into profitable, community focused institutions and why curiosity and experimentation are essential for local media to survive.

We explore how small newspapers are adapting to digital distribution, why local advertising still works, and what many publishers misunderstand about their own audience reach.

Check out OnePress, powered by the Nebraska Press Association, to learn more about Jerry’s work.

⚙️ Building a sustainable local news engine in Edmonton

I spoke with Karen Unland, co founder of Taproot Publishing, who shares how Taproot evolved from occasional stories into a newsletter driven media engine with sponsorships, memberships, and B2B briefing products.

She also discusses how AI tools support their workflow, how they built a large scale local election matching tool, and why their goal is to become Edmonton’s publication of choice.