$15 million ad campaign launched with money from Google to encourage public to support local news media

A $15 million "Support Local News" ad campaign launched yesterday in an effort to raise awareness about the need and importance of funding local newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada through subscriptions, donations and advertising, according to a press release.

The campaign is a collaboration between Local Media Consortium and Local Media Association, with funding from the Google via its Google News Initiative. The campaign will run for six weeks in newspapers, TV, radio stations, and news websites, encouraging people to visit the Support Local News website where they can find links to local news sources that need support, and can also donate to a fund supporting local investigative reporting in North American newsrooms. Donors can also designate contributions for publishers of color doing investigative reporting.

The ad campaign is meant to boost local news sources hurting from decreased ad revenue during the pandemic—a problem the public is largely unaware of. More than 30 local newsrooms have closed since the pandemic began, but a Pew study found that 71% of consumers think their local news media outlets are doing well financially.