A Media Insider’s Wish List for Saving Local Journalism

• Published date: 01 May 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231216856
• Author: Margaret Sullivan
• Date: 01 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Part IV: Adaptation

230 ANNALS, AAPSS, 707, May 2023

DOI: 10.1177/00027162231216856

A Media

Insider’s Wish

List for Saving

Local

Journalism

By

MARGARET SULLIVAN

1216856ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYA MEDIA INSIDER’S WISH LIST FOR SAVING LOCAL JOURNALISM

research-article2023

This article underscores the importance of local inves-

tigative journalism and routine coverage for American

democracy while acknowledging its current unsustain-

able financial model. Working from my experience as a

newspaper editor and media columnist/public editor, I

offer suggestions to improve the quality and content of

local news. My suggestions include national legislation

to support the sustainability of journalism, media liter-

acy education for adults and youth, and subsidies to

newsrooms via state universities.

Keywords: journalism sustainability act; tax incen-

tives; local newspapers; investigative jour-

nalism; accountability journalism

For more than a decade now, I’ve been try-

ing to explain the importance of local jour-

nalism and sound the alarm about its decline. I

know the territory extremely well.

As the top editor for a regional newspaper,

The Buffalo News, I saw firsthand how signifi-

cant our work could be. Our skilled and dedi-

cated staff of 200 journalists at the largest news

organization in upstate New York performed as

the watchdog for our community, and we did

our best to hold powerful people and institu-

tions to public account. I wouldn’t argue that

we did our journalism perfectly, but I do know

that what we did do was crucial to the

community.

Later, as the public editor (or ombuds-

woman) of The New York Times, I saw how

often national journalism took its cues from

initial reporting from smaller, local news

Correspondence: margaret.sullivan@duke.edu

Margaret Sullivan is the 2023 Pamela and Jack Egan

Visiting Professor at Duke University and a columnist

for The Guardian US. As of January 1, 2024, she will be

executive director of the Craig Newmark Center for

Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia University’s

Graduate School of Journalism.