>> There is a nationwide shortage of local news coverage and it hit record levels this year, 50 million people across the country have limited or no access to a local newspaper here in Illinois.

47 counties have either one local news source or none at all.

That's according to a new report from the Middle Local news initiative which tracks media outlets nationwide.

Joining us to talk more about the report is Tim Franklin professor at Northwestern University School of Journalism and founder of the Middle Local news initiative.

Welcome.

Thanks for to So you all found that in the last 20 years, 40% of all us local newspapers have vanished.

More than 130 papers shutting down in the last year alone.

What's driving us yet?

What will keep the business model for local news has collapsed.

And advertising was the pillar that supported local news.

>> For many, many years.

And that's basically imploded.

Advertisers have moved to different platforms to to a social media and to other places.

So they're now trying to desperately replace the revenue that's been lost.

But as you say, with their health, 213 entire counties in the U.S.

with no source of local news, 50 million Americans have no local news source losing on average 2 newspapers a week in the U.S.

So I don't need to tell you we're living through this historic transformation and how news is consumed these days and how it's produced, how it's distributed and paid for.

And so anytime an industry is going through massive disruption like this one, you're going to see destruction and you're going to see creation.

And we're also seeing some creation, which is good.

But right now destruction is winning.

Yeah, I want to come back to that creation locally, though, this means that Illinois has lost more than 46% of its newspaper since 2005.

>> One of the challenges that are hitting local media here in our area.

You know, I really depends on what part of the state you're Southern Illinois, south of I-80.

really struggling with with local news in north of it in the Chicago area in the Chicago region is actually.

And thank you, Peter of innovation, if you will, for local news in many ways and we're seeing new startups being created in the Chicago area.

The problem and what keeps me up at night is that in in downstate Illinois, in many of these counties, there's just not the capital.

There's not the investment.

There's not philanthropic support investors to support local news in many parts of the state.

So so we have kind of these news haves and the news have nots.

And that's really a problem.

And what happens in that case, right?

What happens by these losses the information that folks in those areas are getting, know, we're studying that.

But anecdotally, people go to Facebook groups, for example, and it's great that people are civically engaged on Facebook.

The problem with that is there's no journalist in those Facebook groups doing what journalists do fact checking checking sources, checking documents, talking to sources.

The things you do.

And so there's a lot of misinformation, disinformation that ends up in these Facebook groups.

And that's actually fueling this kind of tsunami.

I think missus, misinformation around the country.

So that's a problem.

And then we also see that in these low information counties that civic participation goes down turnout in local elections.

Number of candidates seeking local office.

That's because people don't know what's happening with those elections.

That's a problem.

We also see there's evidence that government spending rises in these areas because the journalists are the watchdogs through the traffic cops, you know, watching what's happening in these communities.

So so that's another issue.

And we're seeing at the same time that all this is happening, as you mentioned, you are finding that digital first media startups are booming.

We like you said, we've got quite a few here in the Chicago area.

Shout out to Block Club Chicago.

list, Tell us more about about these in and who they serve.

Yes.

over the past 5 years, we've seen more than 300 local new startups critic across the country.

>> And about or about average of about 60 year.

So these are in many cases, entrepreneurs, you know, you mentioned block Club Chicago, which I think one of the great success stories of America in journals in the last.

>> 5 or 6 years not started by billionaires, but by journalists, the kind of out of the ashes of DNA info and they've incrementally that organization over time.

They're filling a huge need in the market for coverage of Chicago area neighborhoods that's great were also seen dual startups in Cicero the CICERO Independence Day.

The Harvey World-Herald down the south suburbs and even the record of North shore up on the north suburbs were paper closed few years ago.

So these are smaller than legacy organizations.

In many cases.

But but they're getting their sea legs and they're serving a market and a need.

>> Are they able to make up for the gap and local reporting and or could you know, some of these more rural?

You know what you said, Downstate communities.

It could.

What we see here be replicated to sort of fill the void in those areas.

You know, I certainly hope so.

I think the concern is that getting resources and finances to those areas, it is a real problems that now there are things that can be done to address that.

Illinois was the first state in the nation to adopt public policy and get public policy funds to local news organizations.

So so there's a tax credit so news organizations can retain and hire journalists that just passed last year.

And actually, the funding just started and over the summer.

So that's one way that that policy makers are trying 2, if you will, incentivize the hiring and retaining of journalists across the area and hopefully, you know, we'll see more public policy in other states.

Few seconds left.

How should reporters newsroom leaders, how should we all be adapting to these changes and this uncertainty in the industry?

You know, it's a time where you got to me consumers where they are and they're getting news and all kinds of different platforms.

Youtube TikTok Instagram and they're planning increasingly important role in the local news ecosystem.

So it's not just a matter producing a story for newspaper.

You've got to produce it in different forms across different platforms.

Got to go to the audience.

And I think there's more research that's coming out as a part of this project yet.

But I think