ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by defining ‘local journalism’ in the US context, and by situating that journalistic form within the universe of global journalistic production. It argues that there are aspects of the US political and economic system that render local news particularly important and particularly problematic. The chapter then goes on to review the research on local news in the digital era, making an effort to show the evolution of that research over the past two decades. It argues, in part, that research on local news has been primarily focused on ‘business models’ of news, and lags behind the larger shift in journalism research toward more normative questions. In the third section, this chapter ties the discussion into larger debates in political science and political theory, including those over the nature of the current US public sphere and arguments about the nature of populism and polarization, and the media’s role in fostering the tendencies. Finally, the chapter outline some paths forward for future research.
