Conceptualizing Local News “Ecosystems” in the United States: An Assessment of Local News Census Research

Research on the state of local news has grown as the crisis in local news has deepened across the United States. This paper reports an analysis of 40 studies published between 2010 and early 2025 that have attempted to map, measure, and assess the health of specific geographic local news ecosystems in the US–studies we collectively label “local news census” research. We examine those studies to see how they are conceptualizing local news systems, in terms of metaphors and methods. Regarding common metaphors, we first analyze a broader literature of academic theorizing on journalism to assess those commonly used in local news census studies: “Ecologies,” “infrastructures,” and “ecosystems.” We then identify common analytical strategies and variables employed in our corpus of local news census studies, including their geographical scope, types of media outlets included, and other key variables. Findings include large disparities in research location foci, a comparative lack of mapping ecosystems and news content analyses, and an emphasis on legacy media. From these findings, we assess the somewhat limited and inconsistent conceptualization of local news systems thus far in local news census research, pointing toward ways that local news systems might be more comprehensively analyzed.