The decline of local journalism in the United States is becoming a more pressing issue by the day. Since 2005, the country has lost more than 2,500 newspapers and 43,000 journalists, primarily due to a drop in revenue from advertising amid strong online competition. More than 200 counties in the US are considered “news deserts” with no local newspaper. In 1,500 others there is only one regional source of information, often a weekly publication. The situation is dire: one in five Americans now lives in an area with no local journalism. FRANCE 24’s Pierrick Leurent and Wassim Cornet report.