From a story on poynter.org by Elizabeth Djinis headlined “Can local news be saved?”:

How many headlines have we seen offering a grim pronouncement on the local news industry? They all feature some variation of the cliche: “Local news is dying.”

It’s certainly true that the local news industry as a whole has suffered. More than 360 U.S. newspapers closed between late 2019 and May 2022, according toan updated report by local news guru and Northwestern University professor Penny Abernathy, and 40 of the 100 largest dailies don’t publish a print edition seven days a week. In 2006, there were an estimated 75,000 journalists working in newsrooms. As of last year, that number had dwindled to less than 30,000.