The Quiet Comeback of Local News

After a decade of closings, local news is trying again in a new form — this time led by subscription newsletters written by one or two journalists per town.

Substack and ghost-powered newsrooms cover school board meetings, zoning hearings, and small business stories the big papers abandoned years ago.

A typical local newsletter charges $8 a month and turns profitable with a few thousand subscribers. For the writers, the paycheck is modest but sustainable.

Skeptics note that one-person outlets can miss stories or lean partisan. Still, readers say they trust a neighbor's inbox more than a distant national feed.