Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, two smart media organizations, have asked a demanding question: Are there enough reporters covering your community? Here’s the compelling point they make in a 2026 national study: “The shortage of local journalists persists. A widening collapse in coverage has left more than 209 million people in communities where essential local reporting has all but disappeared… Most Americans live in communities that are by any reasonable measure severely uncovered.”
There, of course, is plenty of focus in local news on crime and sports. “If it bleeds it leads” is a well known maxim, sad to say. And sports, particularly in the South, and most particularly in the Deep South, is a cultural centerpiece of life in the region. Unfortunately, “the communities with the greatest need for specific types of civic information,” such as health and wellness, “are not reliably the communities where that coverage exists.” So, “the collapse of local journalism isn’t just a media industry problem; it’s a public health problem.”
What was new to me is that states with fewer local journalists have higher rates of loneliness. “Local news fosters attachment to community and a sense of belonging that acts as a buffer against social isolation.” Those states also suffer more financially. My family roots are spread throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama. These states are all fighting it out for which are the poorest states per capita in the country.
Bottom line: holding power to account in those states for me and for local journalists around the country who are heading back to school after a summer break will bring a happier, healthier, better informed country.
