The divide between consolidation and collaboration deepens

It used to be that a local news organization could stand alone. History and policy pushed these outlets into local ownership, focusing on their own communities, with their own presses. Today, however, no local news organization is an island.

Local news organizations will continue to rely on each other in 2026, but it will look very different for legacy organizations compared to startups and nonprofit sites. The divide between consolidation and collaboration will only deepen.

Legacy media organizations are consolidating: swallowed up by chain ownership that cuts, bleeds, and sells off everything that makes them distinctively local. In an attempt to survive, they cling together on the same life raft.

Startups and nonprofits are collaborating: benefiting from a rapid increase in commonly available resources and journalism support organizations, a growing national infrastructure that supports the local civic infrastructures they are trying to build.

Though Nexstar and Tegna’s TV conglomerates got headlines this year, ownership of American newspapers has consolidated most dramatically. Data from Northwestern makes this clear: The number of unique newspaper owners fell by half since 2005, from 3,995 to 1,900. These chains “share resources” by filling space with national wire services. While this props up the print product for subscribers, it dilutes the localness that makes the product valuable in the news marketplace.

For-profit local news isn’t the only sector where chains are struggling. In 2025, the National Trust for Local News — a nonprofit with the goal of purchasing local newspapers to save them from closing — sold 21 of its newspapers in Colorado to a for-profit company and reduced staff and print production elsewhere.

Collaboration is booming, however. The Journalism Support Exchange (JSX) from Commoner Company and Press Forward, for example, connects newsrooms to the growing set of organizations looking to help. It’s an infrastructure for infrastructure, from funders to press clubs and associations for nonprofit news, online news, rural public media, university research centers, and many others. These investments from Press Forward and others are not just about funding newsrooms directly, but also helping newsrooms find the resources they need to succeed — and stay independent.

Somewhere between chains and support systems are local news networks, or “multi-local” operations that consolidate business and operation infrastructure across smaller communities. Cityside (in the Bay Area), Deep South Today, and TAPinto are all examples of this approach, featuring teams of local reporters relying upon central resources while striving to maintain community trust. 2026 will be an important test of whether these regional support systems can avoid turning into chains.

Local news remains in crisis. But the models that will work for its future are emerging through independent, creative newsrooms across the country with civic goals beyond survival and profit. If those organizations can rely upon common support without requiring common ownership, that innovation is more likely to thrive, and successful models can be found among these innovators. (Here at Syracuse, I started the Local NExT Lab this year to experimentally test these innovations to see what is working. Please get in touch if you’re interested in participating!). With support and collaboration, these laboratories of local news can figure out what’s next for the industry.

In 2026, the consolidation/cooperation divide is likely to deepen as more legacy media are bought up by chains. Chains can offer temporary survival, but they ultimately de-localize the news. Hopefully, JSX and the organizations it has gathered can foster collaboration that slows consolidation. 2026 will build on the successes of 2025 for those who can take advantage of the support systems springing up to sustain local news.