State policies directly affect people’s daily lives.
State-level political battles shape the national landscape.
Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer
There's a problem in state political coverage
In many state capitals, too many stories go underreported or unreported. There’s a void in our news ecosystem and it’s only growing. While traditional news coverage of national politics has increased in recent years, those successes are isolated to a few major outlets. State coverage continues to shrink.
- Newsroom employment in the U.S. fell 25% between 2008 and 2018, with a 47% decline at newspapers, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center report.
- The number of newspaper statehouse reporters declined over 25% from 2014 to 2022 according to a 2022 Pew Research Center study.
- And, The Boston Globe reported that the newspaper industry has lost an average of one thousand jobs per month in recent years.
As a result, there are fewer eyes on state government, with real consequences for real people.
Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent
Our Solution
States Newsroom is bucking that trend.
We now employ more than 212 full-time editors, reporters, and support staff in 37 states across the country. States Newsroom has established a new, philanthropic business model that focuses on state politics and policy. Our model is different: it is entirely made possible by donors of all sizes and unlike virtually every other for-profit and nonprofit media outlet, we don’t run ads of any kind or accept corporate donations or underwriting.
Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
The Result
Discover how decisions are made and how they affect people
We believe that no matter who you are or where you live, you need access to high-quality, non-partisan reporting on the crucial issues of our time. We provide our network of leading editors and reporters with the resources they need to cover their communities. Every newsroom is led by a veteran local journalist with deep knowledge of the state’s political history and media landscape who oversees a staff of experienced capital reporters. Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect the states.
