III
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. RES. 152
Designating April 2025 as ‘‘Preserving and Protecting Local News Month’’
and recognizing the importance and significance of local news.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Mr. S
CHATZ(for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr.
F
ETTERMAN, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. WELCH, Mr.
W
ARNER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. KELLY, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. SMITH, and Ms.
C
ANTWELL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
RESOLUTION
Designating April 2025 as ‘‘Preserving and Protecting Local
News Month’’ and recognizing the importance and sig-
nificance 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 free-
dom of speech, or of the press . . .’’;
Whereas an informed citizenry depends on accurate and unbi-
ased news reporting to inform the judgment of the peo-
ple;
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Whereas a robust, diverse, and sustainable local news pres-
ence leads to civic engagement and the buttressing of
democratic norms and practices;
Whereas local news provides vital information on national,
State, and local 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 cor-
porate 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 sys-
tems that—
(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
⁄4of United States citizens trust local
news sources;
Whereas, according to researchers at the Northwestern Uni-
versity Medill School of Journalism, the United States
has lost more than 3,200 local print outlets since 2005;
Whereas, according to recent research—
(1) an average of 2.5 local print outlets are being
shuttered every week in the United States;
(2) more than 200 of the 3,143 counties and county
equivalents in the United States have no local newspaper
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at all, creating a news shortage for over 3,500,000 resi-
dents of those areas;
(3) of the remaining counties in the United States,
more than
1
⁄2have only 1 newspaper to cover populations
ranging from fewer than 1,000 to more than 1,000,000
residents and
2
⁄3have no daily newspaper, with fewer
than 100 of these counties having a digital substitute;
(4) more than
1
⁄2of all newspapers in the United
States have changed owners during the past decade;
(5) as of 2024, just 10 companies, including compa-
nies with partial or full ownership by private equity firms
and hedge funds, control
1
⁄4of all newspapers and more
than
1
⁄2of all dailies in the United States;
(6) of the surviving 5,595 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 pro-
vide much of the breaking news or public service jour-
nalism 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 net loss of nearly 3,200 newspapers that
have closed since 2005 are in rural counties; and
(8) researchers at the Northwestern University
Medill School of Journalism estimate that 279 counties
across 32 States are at an elevated risk of becoming news
deserts, which would inordinately impact high-poverty
areas in the South, Mountain West, and Midwest, and
communities with significant Black, Latino, and Native
American populations;
Whereas, while overall employment in newspaper, television,
radio, and digital newsrooms dropped by roughly 26 per-
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cent, 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 broad-
casting industry dropped by 26 percent between 2008
and 2020;
Whereas nearly 15,000 media jobs, including jobs in the
newspaper industry and broadcasting, were lost in 2024;
Whereas, between January and September 2024, digital-na-
tive publications and legacy media outlets laid off ap-
proximately 2,500 journalists, and many of those publica-
tions shuttered during the last year;
Whereas beat reporting, meaning the day-to-day coverage of
a particular field that allows a journalist to develop ex-
pertise 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 per-
cent between 2005 and 2010, demonstrating a significant
drop in the extent to which local reporters request gov-
ernment records;
Whereas, according to the Pew Research Center, newspapers
in the United States saw a decline in advertising revenue
of almost 60 percent between 2013 and 2023;
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 news-
room employment, with women comprising approximately
1
⁄3of staff who are 30 years of age or older;
Whereas women who are local television news anchors and re-
porters, 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 exacer-
bated by the economic fallout from the COVID–19 pan-
demic, and declining news readership and circulation, 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 jour-
nalistic 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 independ-
ently owned print publications, and collectively those
news media outlets primarily rely on a declining adver-
tising revenue base;
Whereas the lack of local news impacts communities that
speak languages other than English, which are often ex-
cluded 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 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 the COVID–19 pandemic took a substantial eco-
nomic toll on the local news industry, contributing to
budget cuts, staff layoffs, and scores of newsroom clo-
sures, 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 since 2023;
Whereas PEN America proposed ‘‘a major reimagining of the
local news space’’ in its 2019 call-to-action report, ‘‘Los-
ing the News: The Decimation of Local Journalism and
the Search for Solutions’’, and called on society and the
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Federal Government to urgently address the alarming de-
mise 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 United
States, 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 annu-
ally appropriated funds: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate— 1
(1) designates April 2025 as ‘‘Preserving and 2
Protecting Local News Month’’; 3
(2) affirms that local news serves an essential 4
function in the democracy of the United States; 5
(3) recognizes local news as a public good; and 6
(4) acknowledges the valuable contributions of 7
local journalism towards the maintenance of healthy 8
and vibrant communities. 9
Æ
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