Working Journalists Fell 75% from 2000 to 2025: Impact on Local Media and Why It Should Matter to Brands
In the last 25 years, the number of journalists working in the US has plummeted more than 75%, according to a report from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News. This is bad news for local journalism... and it's not good for brands, either.
Source: 2025 Local Journalism Index by Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News. The more orange the county, the fewer journalists per capita.
What the data says
Brian Stelter highlighted the shortage of local journalism in his coverage of the report for CNN, where the ratio of journalists for every 100,000 people dropped from 40 in 2000 to just 8.2 in 2025. Particularly salient is how the lack of local reporting affects civic engagement.
How civic engagement factors into strategic communications
Every company has an HQ based in communities where people live. The more civically engaged (AKA, invested in the well-being, maintenance, and future of the community) those people are, the better and more prolific the opportunities to build a high-return community engagement strategy.
Even if your customer base extends beyond your local market, a community engagement strategy is still a highly valuable function of communications and PR.
Investing real time, energy, and resources into your company's relationship with the local community can yield positive results for your workforce and talent pool, lead to strategic partnerships, and positively enhance brand perception.
The business case for protecting local journalism
One of the key mediums for community engagement is—you guessed it—the local news. So, here's why we all might want to advocate for and support the protection of local journalism, in business terms:
👥 The people who staff your headquarters, retail locations, and manufacturing plants (currently or in the future) are all humans who live in the local community. You want them to want to work for you.
👨👩👧👦 The people who don't work for you have children, who may go on to pursue a career that leads them to become future employees or customers. You want them to know you and like you.
🤝 Companies and business associations in your area also have leaders, employees, customers, and community stakeholders, creating opportunities for strategic partnerships that lift your brand and can have a direct impact on revenue. You want them to see value in collaborating with you.
In closing
When you hear warning bells about local media, don't ignore them. The reasons why local media should be protected extend beyond the business case alone.
If we lose local media, we lose one of the most powerful tools in a PR pro’s toolkit. Let’s do what we can to stop that from happening.
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Originally published on LinkedIn.
