Media Consolidation

Like many other industries, ownership of the media has consolidated greatly, due to deregulation and lax enforcement of anti-trust laws. Since 2012, six media companies have controlled over 90% of US media outlets. Internet companies now take the lion share of advertizing revenue newspapers used to rely on. As local news outlets feel the squeeze, newsrooms are cut, valuable reporting is lost, and publishers are starved for content - leaving them more vulnerable to corporate PR and opinion pieces that parrot a few owners’ opinions.

At the same time, the demand for local news remains strong. According to Pew , 82% of Americans surveyed say they follow local news closely.

Public News Service is a solution to this problem. Our member-supported model provides content to media outlets that highlights community issues and gives voice to those marginalized by media consolidation. Our distribution network across platforms is designed to reach a wide geographic and ideological audience where they are, with over 6,000 outlets regularly featuring our reporting to an audience of 30-50 million weekly.

Reaching People Where They Are

While we distribute across legacy and digital news platforms, our distribution starts with broadcast audio (the medium formerly known as radio) and that is entirely on purpose. 93% of the US population over 12 listens to the radio. The audio format transitions seamlessly to online platforms, and podcasts and streaming radio have steadily increased their listenership to 64% of Americans as of 2018. While reaching urban and suburban populations is no less valuable, radio is vital to rural areas where longer time spent driving and increasing news deserts means radio is medium of choice for getting the news. In addition to our local stories, the PNS Daily Newscast, featuring a combination of national and local public interest reporting, is now being heard by over 1.5 million listeners on any given day, either on terrestrial radio or online.

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Contact us to learn more about membership, and support coverage of the issues that are important to you.

P.S. Learn about our sister nonprofit Media in the Public Interest, and our native advertising platform, SoundBite Services.

Contact Us

3980 Broadway Suite 103 Box 139
Boulder, CO 80304
Phone: 303.448.9105
Toll free: 888.891.9416
Fax: 208.247.1830

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