Why Local News
Local news is in crisis. Across the country, including here in Ohio, the commercial news industry has been on the decline, leading to the loss of nearly three-quarters of journalism jobs since 2005, leading to less accountability, more polarization, and more government waste. With the volume of original reporting in Ohio communities reduced to a small fraction of what it once was, nonprofit news offers a path forward.
3,300+
Newspapers in the U.S. have closed (including 130 in 2024 alone)
3.5 M
People who live in a county without a Local Newsroom
73%
of journalism jobs no longer exist
Local news is our most trusted source for information about the world around us. It provides a shared understanding of what’s happening in our city halls, schools, and businesses.
There is a path forward
Signal Ohio is replenishing local news resources in Ohio with a new model. In our two+ years of operation, we’ve…
- Built three independent newsrooms (with a fourth on the way!) that are representative of local demographics and staffed with some of Ohio’s most talented journalists
- Taken local governments to task for failed execution of public programs and became the only news source prioritizing communities
- Proved that it’s possible to flip the traditional journalism model on its head, by centering residents’ needs via our community engagement programs
- Created pathways into journalism for emerging reporters
- Equipped many hundreds of residents to engage in their local governments via our Documenters programs
- Engaged an industry-leading coalition of supporters for local journalism
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Local Newsrooms
Signal Ohio is a nonprofit statewide network of local newsrooms.
