The Death of Local News is Killing American Democracy

June 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Only 8 percent of Republicans have a great deal of trust in the media. That number, from the most recent Gallup poll, is the kind of statistic that Evan Smith, co-founder of the Texas Tribune and now a managing editor at The Atlantic, carries with him as he travels the country for the Atlantic Across America tour. The tour is an explicit effort to get national journalists out of the coastal bubble and into communities that feel abandoned and misrepresented by the press. In a live conversation with Atlantic colleague McKay Coppins, Smith argued that the crisis in American journalism is a crisis of democracy itself, driven by two forces: the deliberate, politically motivated attack on the press, and the industry’s own failures of arrogance and insularity.

The Poison of Distance and the Loss of Local News

Smith’s core diagnosis is that the media’s trust problem is fundamentally a problem of proximity. The hollowing out of local newsrooms has severed the connective tissue between journalists and the communities they serve. Over the last 20 years, a third of American newspapers have disappeared, and newsrooms have lost 70 percent of their employees. More than 200 counties now have no source of local news at all, and a similar number are about to join them. This creates what Smith calls “two Americas, one informed and one not.”

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Opening: Trust Crisis and the Atlantic Across America Tour** - Host McKay Coppins introduces the episode and guest Evan Smith, co-founder of the Texas Tribune and now managing editor at The Atlantic, recorded live in Salt Lake City.
2 (01:41) **What the Tour Reveals: Shared Concerns Across the Country** - Smith explains that traveling outside the coastal bubble has shown that Americans everywhere care about the same fundamental issues.
3 (04:38) **The Numbers on Trust: A Historic Low** - Smith puts hard data to the crisis of trust in the media, revealing a stark partisan divide.
4 (05:26) **Why Trust Collapsed: Blame from Outside and Inside** - Smith identifies two main causes for the loss of trust: active political undermining and the media's own failures.
5 (06:52) **The Missing Role of Local News** - Coppins argues national publications have been forced into a role they were never meant to play, replacing the vital function of community-based journalism.
6 (08:09) **The Toll of News Deserts: Two Americas, One Informed** - Smith explains the devastating effect on communities when local news is hollowed out, leaving a void filled by misinformation.
7 (11:15) **The Self-Destructive Cycle: When All Media Looks the Same** - Coppins describes how the collapse of local news blurs the line between legitimate journalism and content creators, eroding trust for everyone.

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Show Notes

Why don’t Americans trust the media anymore? On this episode of "Deseret Voices," host McKay Coppins sits down with Evan Smith, co-founder of The Texas Tribune and managing director for events at The Atlantic, to dissect the ongoing crisis of trust in American journalism.

As local newspapers vanish and national media outlets face unprecedented strain, a dangerous information vacuum has emerged. Together, Coppins and Smith explore how the hollowing out of community newsrooms has fueled political polarization, giving rise to misinformation and social media echo chambers. But it’s not all bad news. From nonprofit journalism to hyper-local transparency, discover the emerging media models that are fighting to save American democracy and rebuild the bond between journalists and the communities they serve.

In this wide-ranging and candid conversation recorded live on “The Atlantic Across America” tour, Coppins and Smith unpack the structural failures and future possibilities of the American press.

“Deseret Voices” is hosted by award-winning journalists McKay Coppins and Jane Clayson Johnson, who go beyond the headlines to explore the stories, people, and ideas shaping our world today. Through thoughtful, in-depth conversations, the “Deseret Voices” podcast brings clarity and common ground to the complex issues defining our time.

“Deseret Voices” is a Deseret News podcast, produced by Keira Farrimond, Creative Director - Video & Podcasts.

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