US local news 2024: On the front page frontline

Gary O'Donoghue meets local newspaper editors in America to hear about the challenge of reporting during a divisive presidential election campaign.
In Kansas, Gary visits Eric Meyer, the owner and editor of the Marion County Record. In August 2023 the paper’s offices, and the home of its 90-year-old owner, Eric’s mother Joan, were raided by the town's five person police department. The following day Joan died. Such a raid on a newspaper is rare in America, and this was picked up nationally. A year later, the police chief Gideon Cody has been charged with interference with judicial process.

Gary hears how local media has become part of the culture wars. Local papers find themselves reporting on, and caught up in, divisive political battles over local institutions such as the school, police, municipality. A "good old fashioned newspaper war" has been playing out in Westcliffe, Colorado, where Gary meets Jordan Hedberg, editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune. In the same town, the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel, promises “a different view from the same mountains”.

Gary also hears about how trust in local news, which has traditionally played a big part in local politics, is being eroded. According to recent analysis from Pew Research trust in local newspapers is at its lowest in recent years and there is a clear party divide, with Democrats 16 points more likely than Republicans to have at least some trust in the information they get from local news outlets (79% versus 63%).

(Photo: The first edition of the Marion County Record since its newsroom in central Kansas was raided by police. Credit: Getty Images)