šŸ“° The State of Local News

Plus: Sustainable journalism isn't a charity case: it's a business plan

Author

Paul Gewuerz
October 23, 2025

Your weekly briefing of stories from around the local news space about business, policy, trends, and more

Hello! Hereā€™s whatā€™s in this weekā€™s issue:

Ā» The State of Local News

Ā» Merger of two journalism support orgs

Ā» X rolls out ā€œlink experienceā€ to bring back journalists

Ā» Journalists training their own AI replacements?

Ā» TV viewers still want local news

šŸŽ§ Small Press, Big Ideas Podcast: Sustainable journalism isn't a charity case: it's a business plan

šŸ“° The State of Local News

Medill released its annual industry report this week. The State of Local News 2025 shows that 136 newspapers closed in the last year, up from 130 in 2024. The study also shows increases in mobile first audiences and that the creator economy may now be the biggest competitor to legacy news orgs. You can read more here and here

šŸšØ Merger of two journalism support orgs

The MuckRock Foundation has merged with Sunlight Research Center to create a unified organization aimed at bolstering local newsrooms by combining Sunlightā€™s investigative training framework with MuckRockā€™s robust transparency and public records platforms. This partnership means local journalists will now have access to enhanced tools, workshops, and expert services.

X is testing a ā€œlink experienceā€ on iOS that keeps posts with links collapsed at the bottom of the screen so users can react while browsing the linked content, aiming to boost engagement for link posts which have struggled on the platform. The company also specifically invited journalists and writers who left X back into the fold. Read more

šŸ¤– Journalists training their own AI replacements?

E&P reports on how journalists are increasingly working side hustles testing and fine tuning AI systems that might one day replace parts of the newsroom, effectively training machines to replicate their own roles. Theyā€™re doing this both out of necessity (shrinking newsroom budgets) and opportunity (new revenue streams), even as many report unease about what it means for the future of journalism.

šŸ“ŗ TV viewers still want local news

A new survey shows that 95% of respondents believe itā€™s important to access local news from their local TV station. Additionally, 72% of those with cable/satellite/streaming services said theyā€™d likely switch providers if their local station was no longer carried.

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Small Press, Big Ideas

A podcast about the business of local news

Sustainable journalism isn't a charity case: it's a business plan

This week on the podcast I spoke with Paul Myers, Executive Editor for Mineral King Publishing in Californiaā€™s San Joaquin Valley and the President and Co-Founder of Lantrn.ai.

In our conversation Paul tells his story of going from 2008 college grad with limited career opportunities to landing at a local newspaper, and eventually becoming executive editor of Mineral Kingā€™s The Sun-Gazette and Mid Valley Times.

Where the conversation really gets interesting is when Paul dives into AI. He isnā€™t using AI for writing or sourcing content, in fact he suggests that local publishers should be avoiding that rabbit hole.

Paulā€™s insight centers around the fact that the information that his newsrooms are collecting is clearly valuable to the big-tech backed AI companies, and therefore should be viewed as an asset that local publishers can leverage in their favor.

Paulā€™s AI project Lantrn.ai is aiming to use the reporting and data collected by on the ground reporters that can then be repurposed into a B2B product, effectively helping newsrooms find a path to sustainability through the work that theyā€™re already doing.

In the episode, Paul dives deeper into how Lantrn.ai works, his thoughts on small newsrooms avoiding handouts from big tech in favor of actually standing on their own feet, some thoughts on showing up in the community to gain trust, and a lot more. Paul brings a ton of value, this episode is well worth the listen.

Listen now on your podcast app of choice!

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