III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 651 

Designating April 2024 as ‘‘Preserving and Protecting Local News Month’’ 

and recognizing the importance and significance of local news. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 18, 2024 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. WELCH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. 

DURBIN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. KELLY, Mr. KING, and Ms. BUTLER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Designating April 2024 as ‘‘Preserving and Protecting Local 

News Month’’ and recognizing the importance and significance of local news. 

Whereas the United States was founded on the principle of 

freedom of the press enshrined in the First Amendment 

to the Constitution of the United States, which declares 

that ‘‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . .’’; 

Whereas an informed citizenry depends on accurate and unbiased news reporting to inform the judgment of the people; 


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Whereas a robust, diverse, and sustainable local news presence leads to civic engagement and the buttressing of 

democratic norms and practices; 

Whereas local news provides vital information on local, State, 

and national elections to help United States citizens execute their civic responsibility; 

Whereas the absence of local news outlets and investigative 

reporting allows local government corruption and corporate malfeasance to go unchecked; 

Whereas local journalists help combat misinformation and 

disinformation by using their community knowledge and 

connections to debunk fraudulent or misleading content; 

Whereas local cable franchises routinely provide for public 

educational and government access channels on their systems, and those channels— 

(1) offer vital local civic programming that informs 

communities; 

(2) provide news and information not often available 

on other local broadcast channels or cable; 

(3) supplement local journalism; and 

(4) at times, are the only source for local news; 

Whereas more than 3⁄4 of the United States citizenry trust 

local news sources; 

Whereas, according to recent research— 

(1) the United States has lost nearly 2,900 local 

print outlets since 2005, which accounts for over 1⁄4 of 

all local print outlets, and is on track to lose 1⁄3 of all 

local print outlets by 2025; 

(2) an average of 2.5 local print outlets are being 

shuttered every week in the United States; 


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(3) more than 200 of the 3,143 counties and county 

equivalents in the United States have no local newspaper 

at all, creating a news shortage for the roughly 4,000,000 

residents of those areas; 

(4) of the remaining counties in the United States, 

more than 1⁄2 have only 1 newspaper to cover populations 

ranging from fewer than 1,000 to more than 1,000,000 

residents and 2⁄3 have no daily newspaper, with fewer 

than 100 of these counties having a digital substitute; 

(5) more than 1⁄2 of all newspapers in the United 

States have changed owners during the past decade, and, 

in 2020, the 25 largest newspaper ownership companies 

owned 1⁄3 of all daily newspapers, including 70 percent of 

newspapers that still circulate daily; 

(6) of the surviving 6,700 newspapers in the United 

States, thousands now qualify as ‘‘ghost newspapers’’, or 

newspapers with reporting and photography staffs that 

are so significantly reduced that they can no longer provide much of the breaking news or public service journalism that once informed readers about vital issues in 

their communities; 

(7) rural counties are among the counties most 

deeply impacted by the loss of local reporting, as more 

than 500 of the nearly 2,900 newspapers that have closed 

since 2005 are in rural counties; and 

(8) researchers at Northwestern University’s Medill 

School of Journalism estimate that 228 counties in the 

United States are at an elevated risk of becoming news 

deserts in the next 5 years, which would inordinately impact high-poverty areas in the South and Midwest and 

communities with significant Black, Latino, and Native 

American populations; 


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Whereas, while overall employment in newspaper, television, 

radio, and digital newsrooms dropped by roughly 26 percent, or 30,000 jobs, between 2008 and 2020, the plunge 

in newspaper newsrooms alone was much worse at 57 

percent, or 40,000 jobs, during that same time period; 

Whereas the number of news employees in the radio broadcasting industry dropped by 26 percent between 2008 

and 2020; 

Whereas more than 21,400 media jobs were lost in 2023, the 

highest number, excluding 2020, since the height of the 

Great Recession in 2009; 

Whereas digital native publications have laid off hundreds of 

journalists, including over 500 in January 2024 alone, 

and many of those publications have shuttered during the 

last year; 

Whereas beat reporting, meaning the day-to-day coverage of 

a particular field that allows a journalist to develop expertise and cultivate sources, has ceased to be a viable 

career for would-be journalists due to the decimation of 

newsroom budgets; 

Whereas requests submitted under section 552 of title 5, 

United States Code (commonly referred to as ‘‘Freedom 

of Information Act requests’’), by local newspapers to 

local, State, and Federal agencies fell by nearly 50 percent between 2005 and 2010, demonstrating a significant 

drop in the extent to which local reporters request government records; 

Whereas newspapers alone lost more than $39,800,000,000 

in advertising revenue between 2005 and 2020; 

Whereas the sponsorship revenue of all-news radio stations 

dropped by 25 percent between 2019 and 2021; 


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Whereas there remains a significant gender disparity in newsroom employment, with women comprising approximately 

1⁄3 of staff who are 30 years of age or older; 

Whereas women who are local television news anchors and reporters, especially women of color, are often subject to 

harassment and stalking; 

Whereas, across the United States, there are nearly 300 

media outlets that primarily serve Black communities, 

and, in recent years, many of those newspapers have 

seen— 

(1) significant losses in advertising revenue as small 

businesses in their communities were forced to close; and 

(2) declines in circulation due to the closures of 

businesses in their communities; 

Whereas the number of Black journalists working at daily 

newspapers dropped by 40 percent between 1997 and 

2014, more than for any other demographic group, and 

the exodus of journalists from local news outlets exacerbated amid the economic fallout from the COVID–19 

pandemic has been disproportionately borne by Black 

constituencies; 

Whereas the number of print media sources published by and 

for Native American readers has shrunk dramatically in 

recent years, from 700 media outlets in 1998 to only 200 

in 2018; 

Whereas Tribally owned news outlets are often dependent on 

Tribal governments for funding, but most of those outlets 

lack the policy structure necessary to fully protect journalistic independence; 

Whereas a 2018 survey by the Native American Journalists 

Association found that 83 percent of respondents believed 


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that Native press coverage of Tribal government affairs 

was sometimes, frequently, or always censored; 

Whereas there are more than 620 Latino news media outlets 

in the United States, including more than 275 independently owned print publications, and collectively these 

news media outlets primarily rely on a declining advertising revenue base; 

Whereas the lack of local news impacts communities that 

speak languages other than English, which are often excluded from national media coverage; 

Whereas investments in local journalism have mainly focused 

on larger media markets, contributing to inequities and 

a journalistic divide between affluent and low-income 

communities; 

Whereas student journalists, at both the college and high 

school level, have stepped in to play an important role reporting on their local communities despite the lack of 

educational resources and support; 

Whereas the Pew Research Center reports that nearly 1 in 

10 statehouse reporters are student journalists; 

Whereas more than 360 local newsrooms have closed from 

the onset of the COVID–19 pandemic in early 2020 to 

the present day; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic took a substantial economic toll on the local news industry, contributing to 

budget cuts, staff layoffs, and scores of newsroom closures, from which the industry has yet to fully recover, 

as epitomized by mass layoffs and closures at several 

local news outlets in the 50 States and the District of 

Columbia in 2023 and early 2024; 


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Whereas PEN America proposed ‘‘a major reimagining of the 

local news space’’ in its 2019 call-to-action report, ‘‘Losing the News: The Decimation of Local Journalism and 

the Search for Solutions’’, and called on society and the 

Federal Government to urgently address the alarming demise of local journalism; and 

Whereas, half a century ago, Congress perceived that the 

commercial television industry would not independently 

provide the educational and public interest broadcasting 

that was appropriate and necessary for the country, and, 

informed by an independent report prepared by the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, created the 

Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has since ensured that radio and television include public interest 

educational and reporting programs using annually appropriated funds: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) designates April 2024 as ‘‘Preserving and 

3 Protecting Local News Month’’; 

4 (2) affirms that local news serves an essential 

5 function in the democracy of the United States; 

6 (3) recognizes local news as a public good; and 

7 (4) acknowledges the valuable contributions of 

8 local journalism towards the maintenance of healthy 

9 and vibrant communities. 

Æ 


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