Local Media Association in collaboration with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, Rebuild Local News, the Knight Foundation, Detroit PBS, Real Times Media, Graham Media Group, Gannett, Michigan Press Association, Michigan Association of Broadcasters, Press Forward, MLive and Crain’s Detroit Business, hosted a summit on July 22, 2025, to address the local news crisis affecting Michiganders.
The summit aimed to spotlight the steep decline in local journalism and its widespread consequences for communities across the state, which mirrors national trends, and to discuss possible solutions.
Thanks to generous support from the Knight Foundation and Detroit PBS, the full summit is available to watch, below.
Check out a 30 minute highlight clip of the of the program here.
Here is an 11-minute highlight video from the event:
Did you know that nearly half of Michigan’s counties and more than 1 million residents have limited access to local news?
And did you know that 40% of Michigan’s newspapers have vanished in the past two decades, making the state among the hardest hit in the nation in loss of local news and newspaper jobs, according to the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University.
The crisis in local news is real. This summit will focus on the impact this has on Michiganders across the state, and how corporate/business leaders, publicly elected officials, the philanthropic community, investors and others can come together to support initiatives designed to better educate and inform the citizens of Michigan.
To read more about the event, check out all of the coverage below.