One thing you can always count on as the spring semester draws to a close is the steady stream of LinkedIn posts announcing summer plans, and for others, frantic last-minute summer internship searches. For those studying journalism, the pressure is especially severe, as professors are constantly emphasizing the difficulty of entering the journalism job market. Many students come to D.C. hoping to take advantage of the proximity to major news organizations like the Washington Post, NPR or the Associated Press, but as they prepare their resumes and send out cover letters, they shouldn’t forget about valuable opportunities in local journalism at a time when news outlets across the country are struggling.
Local journalism has faced a crisis in the last decade with hundreds of local newspapers closing nationwide due to financial struggles and declining readership. In 2025, 136 newspapers closed, with almost 3,500 closing in the past two decades. In the last decade, 50 million Americans have lost access to local news as over 40 percent of local newsrooms closed. The closure of hundreds of local newspapers has led to news deserts, defined as when a county lacks a local newspaper or consistent local reporting. Almost 200 counties in the United States do not have a local newspaper, and more than 1,500 counties only have one. News deserts disproportionately affect lower-income, rural areas and populations that arguably need access to reliable information more to keep themselves informed the most, according to Northwestern University’s State of Local News report.
In other words, local journalism needs help. And student journalists searching for summer work are in the prime position to provide it.
When the larger news landscape is consistently struggling with industry changes and public distrust, as increasing numbers of consumers believe national journalists are biased in their reporting, we cannot forget how essential local newspapers are to the broader journalism and political ecosystem and that many of these organizations are in desperate need of reporters, copy editors and fact-checkers to deliver quality reporting that informs communities on local news. Both as aspiring journalists and as citizens, we cannot forget about the role that local newspapers play in our democracy and what we can do to help them from vanishing.
We should be worried about how journalism at all levels is struggling. While there are nonprofit organizations that help local news organizations facing economic issues, we as journalists need to try to take a more active role in keeping these newspapers alive, and one of the main ways to do that is by taking internships or jobs at a local level. We as students just entering the job market might not have a lot of influence on the financial struggles of major news organizations, but we do have influence on how involved we can be with local newspapers.
It is easy to see why ambitious student journalists looking to bolster their resume may be drawn to apply to the larger legacy newspapers around D.C. or even in their home states — in the industry, the name recognition of working for a well-known brand can go a long way. But local newspapers are also essential to journalism and the American political landscape as a whole. The loss of local newspapers across the country contributes to increasing polarization as communities are forced to depend on national news and not on specific local representatives, fostering partisan thinking. This also leads to decreasing voting numbers and a lack of accountability for local government officials. And during a time when polarization and misinformation are rising and affecting communities with higher poverty levels, local journalism proves invaluable.
The beauty of local journalism is that students can intern from virtually anywhere, whether they are staying in D.C. or heading back home during the summer. The expense of staying in D.C. led me to try interning at the local newspaper in my county for a summer — the Calexico Chronicle in California. Interning at my town paper allowed me to understand my community more — I was exposed to the homophobia many residents faced when I covered a speech the mayor gave for Pride Month, and I got to meet and interview local artists who were hoping to give back to the community through their work. While my time was limited at the Calexico Chronicle, I got a better sense of the place that I had lived in my entire life while actively contributing to my community and local journalism.
For students who can’t stay in D.C. because of financial issues, or for other reasons, local newspapers are a way to get involved in journalism. If students are still hoping to one day work for a major newspaper, having worked locally will only serve to better prepare them for larger news organizations. These internships can teach you countless skills, like interviewing, sourcing and reporting that you can’t learn in a classroom alone. Working for smaller newspapers can often give students more chances to get writing experience compared to bigger newspapers, where students are more likely to start in smaller roles, like copy editing and fact-checking. When I worked for my city’s paper, I immediately covered events by myself and was quickly writing articles that varied from town politics to feature stories of high school graduations, which helped me get hands-on experience that I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten in a bigger newspaper.
Local journalism also provides opportunities for students to get more involved in their communities. For GW’s politically involved student body, filled with students who are interested in advocacy work, local journalism may provide a perfect fit. Right here in D.C., students who feel strongly about homelessness can intern with Street Sense Media, a local newspaper that raises awareness on and spotlights solutions to end homelessness. One of the reasons I am looking to get involved with my town paper is because there is a data center that is coming to my county, and I am eager to report on how its arrival will impact nearby residents.
The decline in local journalism shows no signs of stopping. For all of us who are interested in journalism and hope to one day work in the industry, we should play our part to uplift local journalism. The School of Media and Public Affairs partners with local newspapers across the country, from Tennessee to New York, and students should take advantage of these partnerships and opportunities.
Today, even major news organizations, like the Washington Post, have cut down on their local reporting of D.C. If large newspapers aren’t prioritizing local coverage, the need is even greater for young journalists to lend their resources to local newspapers. For the good of the industry at-large, GW journalism students should consider applying to more local newsrooms this application cycle.
Andrea Mendoza-Melchor, a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication and creative writing, is the opinions editor.