Back in the day, before each of the three TV networks did their hour-long national newscast, a local station would bring news from closer to home—things like school closures, crime in the neighborhood, and high school sports scores.
Curtis Houck of Media Research Center says local news is still a vital community lifeline.
"It's the closest form of news media to the people, school board members, or county commissioners," he tells AFN.
Stations used to make their money from local advertising, based on the number of viewers a station had. But with the advent of 24-hour news channels and the internet, the money is drying up.
A recent S&P Global report estimated local ad revenue for TV stations growing at just 1.5% annually over the next five years, less than the rate of inflation, hitting a peak of $25.58 billion in the election year of 2028 and dropping to $22.11 billion in 2029.
Since 2000, TV stations have seen their take of ad dollars decline by an inflation-adjusted 36%, according to BIA Advisory Services, a leading research and consulting firm specializing in local media and advertising intelligence.
"The payment structure just isn't there as what it used to be," says Houck.
More than 2,000 TV stations nationwide still deliver as much as 12 hours a day in programming, live sports, and local news, but The Lost Angeles Times reports they are now faced with an aging audience that is not being replaced by younger viewers who prefer streaming platforms and social media.
"Smartphones have created the ability for us to get the weather right outside our window or look at Google Maps without having to check the local news," Houck notes.
He also thinks Americans are increasingly nationally focused, paying more attention to presidential elections or whether there will be boots on the ground in Iran than to how their city councils are spending their tax dollars.
Meanwhile, the move away from local news is driving the crisis of confidence Americans have in the national networks.
"Local news, in poll after poll, is one form of media that Americans are more likely, by large numbers, to trust," Houck reports.
