Nieman Lab.
Predictions for
Journalism, 2024.
There are almost 10 million people in Los Angeles County — the most populous county in the United States. But unlike in other major metro areas of the U.S., a serious investment in local news from funders and policymakers has yet to materialize in L.A.
The next decade in Los Angeles needs not only more investment in the publications left standing, but also new publications to cover the 88 cities that dot the county. Publications that help people navigate the mess of hundreds of public meetings. And publications that can bridge the gap between multiple languages, generations, and communities.
A handful of newspapers with scarce resources is unacceptable for a county as populated and diverse as Los Angeles. Many neighborhoods across L.A. County have lacked a robust news ecosystem for years — in unincorporated areas without cities, in South East L.A., in the San Gabriel Valley, and in the San Fernando Valley. Even worse: Many non-white neighborhoods and communities in L.A. have had news coverage, but not all of it has been representative or fair — often, it has instead been callous and harmful.
At the same time, legacy newspapers are not on solid footing. The Los Angeles Times, which also focuses heavily on national news, is not currently profitable. Southern California News Group — which includes the Daily Breeze in Torrance, the Los Angeles Daily News, and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune — is owned by vulture-like investment firm Alden Global Capital. Community members and journalists don’t deserve to live in fear that their newspaper might always be on the brink of closure.
There are still newsrooms here in L.A., but they’re scattered, and many are under-resourced. A non-exhaustive list would include Black publications like the Los Angeles Sentinel. NPR stations LAist and KCRW. Community papers like Boyle Heights Beat. New Black publications like AfroLA. UCLA’s student paper The Daily Bruin. Spanish-language publications like La Opinión. And, of course, Los Angeles Public Press, where I’m the editorial director.
Two initiatives signal some hope for more investment: the recent California Journalism Summit and research focused on the news needs of Los Angeles published by the American Journalism Project. But even more funders, locally and nationally, need to consider what it means for millions of people to not be resourced by clear access to information about their civic institutions and communities.
According to a 2022 report from Northwestern’s Local Journalism Initiative, more than 200 counties — containing 70 million people — live without a newspaper. And funders and researchers over the last decade have admirably attempted to solve the local news crisis by targeting these counties without reliable access to information.
While it’s critical we work to solve the problem of news deserts in counties without news, it’s similarly critical we work to resolve problems related to a lack of news density in counties like Los Angeles.
If one newspaper is not enough in a county of a few hundred people, a handful of newspapers is unacceptable in a county of almost 10 million. In 2024, Los Angeles deserves better.
Gabe Schneider is editorial director of Los Angeles Public Press and co-founder of The Objective.
There are almost 10 million people in Los Angeles County — the most populous county in the United States. But unlike in other major metro areas of the U.S., a serious investment in local news from funders and policymakers has yet to materialize in L.A.
The next decade in Los Angeles needs not only more investment in the publications left standing, but also new publications to cover the 88 cities that dot the county. Publications that help people navigate the mess of hundreds of public meetings. And publications that can bridge the gap between multiple languages, generations, and communities.
A handful of newspapers with scarce resources is unacceptable for a county as populated and diverse as Los Angeles. Many neighborhoods across L.A. County have lacked a robust news ecosystem for years — in unincorporated areas without cities, in South East L.A., in the San Gabriel Valley, and in the San Fernando Valley. Even worse: Many non-white neighborhoods and communities in L.A. have had news coverage, but not all of it has been representative or fair — often, it has instead been callous and harmful.
At the same time, legacy newspapers are not on solid footing. The Los Angeles Times, which also focuses heavily on national news, is not currently profitable. Southern California News Group — which includes the Daily Breeze in Torrance, the Los Angeles Daily News, and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune — is owned by vulture-like investment firm Alden Global Capital. Community members and journalists don’t deserve to live in fear that their newspaper might always be on the brink of closure.
There are still newsrooms here in L.A., but they’re scattered, and many are under-resourced. A non-exhaustive list would include Black publications like the Los Angeles Sentinel. NPR stations LAist and KCRW. Community papers like Boyle Heights Beat. New Black publications like AfroLA. UCLA’s student paper The Daily Bruin. Spanish-language publications like La Opinión. And, of course, Los Angeles Public Press, where I’m the editorial director.
Two initiatives signal some hope for more investment: the recent California Journalism Summit and research focused on the news needs of Los Angeles published by the American Journalism Project. But even more funders, locally and nationally, need to consider what it means for millions of people to not be resourced by clear access to information about their civic institutions and communities.
According to a 2022 report from Northwestern’s Local Journalism Initiative, more than 200 counties — containing 70 million people — live without a newspaper. And funders and researchers over the last decade have admirably attempted to solve the local news crisis by targeting these counties without reliable access to information.
While it’s critical we work to solve the problem of news deserts in counties without news, it’s similarly critical we work to resolve problems related to a lack of news density in counties like Los Angeles.
If one newspaper is not enough in a county of a few hundred people, a handful of newspapers is unacceptable in a county of almost 10 million. In 2024, Los Angeles deserves better.
Gabe Schneider is editorial director of Los Angeles Public Press and co-founder of The Objective.
