This year is unfolding during a period of real strain on local information systems. Across the country, local news capacity has been shrinking for years. What makes this moment different is timing. Decisions made now will shape civic participation, public accountability, and community trust during one of the most consequential political windows in recent memory. In news deserts places where local journalism is already thin, the effects of those decisions are immediate.
The dominance of major technology platforms intensified that strain. Advertising revenue that once sustained local reporting has been permanently diverted, weakening the economic foundations of local news. At the same time, algorithm-driven systems accelerate misinformation, amplify division, and reward conflict, while trusted local reporting struggles to survive.
The institutions best positioned to provide context, verification, and accountability are local news organizations, and they are operating at the edge of viability. Without sustained investment, gaps in coverage widen, public decisions go unexamined, and communities lose access to shared, reliable information.
This is why philanthropic action is needed now and why it must include the Central Valley.
The Central Valley media ecosystem map brings several patterns into focus. It highlights where the absence of local journalism coincides with higher barriers to civic participation. Together, the map functions less as a full inventory and more as a risk indicator. The dashboard shows where local news exists, where the James B. McClatchy Foundation is investing, and which counties face the greatest civic and information gaps. The report explains what those patterns mean for democracy and why investment in the Central Valley is urgent this election year.
Civic vulnerability indicators cluster geographically.
Counties with higher proportions of foreign-born residents, limited broadband access, lower educational attainment, and longer commute times often overlap with areas that have thinner local news presence and rising reliance on radio, amid Corporation for Public Broadcast funding cuts to trusted National Public Radio stations.
Language access is uneven
While radio plays a critical role in accessing non-English information, most print and digital news remain in English only. This creates gaps in who receives timely, relevant local information.
Civic participation tracks w/ information availability
Across counties, voter participation tends to be higher in areas with stronger local news presence, particularly where outlets are locally owned or closely reflect the communities they serve. This is not a claim of simple causation. It is a consistent signal that aligns with national research on local news and civic engagement.
Journalism is not just a sector, but essential infrastructure. Local journalism helps people understand who holds power and how to engage with public institutions. When coverage declines, communities are less equipped to evaluate candidates and less likely to participate in civic life. Like any infrastructure, journalism depends on a set of conditions to function and endure: it requires capital, talent, and sustained support and protection through policy advocacy, field building, and capacity support.
We are building a diverse, sustainable, independent local journalism ecosystem that reflects and uplifts the Central Valley.
JBMF hosted the Press Forward Central Valley Journalism Convening & Listening Session in Merced, bringing together journalists, funders, and community partners from across the region.
Required to Build Our Vision
Journalism Collaborative
As a core of this strategy, JBMF’s investments seeded the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, a regional backbone infrastructure designed to strengthen the journalism field in the region.
CVJC is a hub for local news in and for the Central Valley, a diverse region of 7 million people. The San Joaquin Valley is one of the most under-covered regions within the Central Valley and in California, and the crisis in local news threatens to weaken communities and democracy. CVJC, founded in Fresno by the James B. McClatchy Foundation in 2021, is proving to be a national model by supporting media and journalists, identifying and advocating for regional media needs, and producing original news with reporters who are from and represent the region’s diverse communities.
JBMF invests and engages in the broader coalitions that allow this ecosystem to endure. This includes providing statewide and national leadership to elevate the Central Valley through Press Forward Central Valley and Press Forward California, advancing policy pathways that support local news sustainability, and organizing donors through its All in for Central Valley Democracy Fund to align philanthropic resources with democratic needs in the Central Valley.
All in For Central Valley Democracy Fund
PRESS FORWARD Central Valley
California Journalism Philanthropy Summit
The California Journalism Philanthropy Summit is an annual convening of nonprofit leaders, journalism executives, and philanthropic partners to explore how philanthropy can strengthen and sustain community-centered local news across the state.
The one-day gathering features discussions on preserving local journalism, advancing public policy, navigating AI’s impact on media, and building a stronger statewide news ecosystem. JBMF has served as a sponsor of the Summit since its inception, committing to invest in trustworthy, community-rooted journalism and supporting cross-sector collaboration to strengthen California’s democracy.
The Central Valley’s Media Ecosystem Mapping Tool provides new insight into the information networks connecting the Valley’s 7.5 million residents. Local media, nonprofit newsrooms, and independent journalists are prominent forces in the growth of regional journalism capacity, which is critical to address the strain on local information systems. Regional journalism organizations connect the Valley’s media, civic, and economic ecosystems, covering stories across California.
The Mariposa Gazette
The Mariposa Gazette newsroom has operated for over 170 years in rural California. It shares majestic Yosemite National Park with two other counties and represents a small community of over 1200 people that also receives much of the impacts from a large tourist industry. Their vitality and sustainability underscores the importance of place-based independent journalism for the longevity of print media.Ivanhoe Sol
Ivanhoe Sol is one of the Central Valley’s newest emerging newsrooms, rooted in community-driven journalism that centers the voices, stories, and lived experiences of Ivanhoe and Tulare County. Through bilingual reporting and local storytelling, Ivanhoe Sol works to ensure communities have access to clear, culturally grounded information that reflects the people it serves.Hmong Daily News
Hmong Daily News is a Fresno based newspaper providing culturally relevant news and information for the Hmong community in the Central Valley, one of the largest Hmong populations in the United States. Through bilingual reporting and community coverage, the outlet helps ensure Hmong voices and perspectives remain visible in a region where political and media power is often decentralized.Fresnoland
Fresnoland is a nonprofit newsroom in Fresno that blends investigative journalism with civic engagement to report on the policies, institutions, and decisions shaping life in the Central Valley. By bringing together journalists, data analysts, and community voices, Fresnoland has become one of the region’s most dynamic newsrooms focused on accountability and local democracy.The Sacramento Observer
The Sacramento Observer is a leading Black-owned newsroom rooted in Sacramento and a longstanding pillar of community-centered journalism. Founded in 1962, the Observer reflects a legacy of Black leadership building independent media in response to the absence of Black voices in mainstream news. Today, it remains one of the most influential sources in the region, combining trusted reporting with storytelling that captures civic life, business, culture, and community. On March 16, 2025, the Observer expanded with the launch of the Stockton Observer, extending its mission to serve and amplify Black communities across California’s Central Valley.KVPR
KVPR serves the Central Valley through a public radio service that informs, inspires, and connects communities with trusted news, cultural programming, and local storytelling. Serving Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mariposa, and Tulare counties, KVPR reaches audiences across both broadcast and digital platforms. KVPR centers community reporting that reflects the region’s lived experiences and diverse perspectives. The station plays a vital role in connecting the Central Valley through inclusive, accessible public media.
The choices shaping our communities will determine civic participation and accountability in the Central Valley for years to come.
Local journalism determines whether those choices are documented, understood, and contested or whether they pass without scrutiny. This report offers one pathway for action, not the only one. Funders can mirror these investments or pursue parallel strategies that strengthen local reporting and democratic participation across the region. The opportunity now is to invest while local journalism can still shape outcomes, not simply record their absence.
About JBMF
The James B. McClatchy Foundation reflects a multigenerational commitment to local and independent media, having granted more than $50 million since 1994 to hundreds of organizations, a journey inspired by the McClatchy family’s history. This work reflects JBMF’s vision for a multiracial, multilingual democracy that aligns with California’s lived reality, and a grantmaking practice grounded in trust, rigor, and long-term partnership. JBMF’s leadership and board include leaders in journalism, education, technology, finance and investment, philanthropy, and the legacy California media family. Our leadership brings together institutional memory and present-day fluency of the news and media landscape. This perspective guides our principles of strong stewardship, editorial respect, and a deep understanding of journalism as a public good.
"A democracy is never on cruise control - it needs guidance that is wise, strong, farsighted, fair-minded and concerned for the welfare of everyone."
-James B. McClatchy
Medill Local News Initiative. Local News Deserts Are Expanding. Northwestern University, 2024.
Analysis of national trends in newspaper closures, ownership consolidation, and uneven digital replacement.
U.S. News Deserts Project. California State Profile.
State-level data on newspaper decline and news desert conditions across California counties.
Democracy Fund. How We Know Journalism Is Good for Democracy.
Synthesis of research linking local journalism to civic participation, accountability, and democratic outcome.
Central Valley Journalism Collaborative (CVJC). What Is the CVJC?
Overview of the regional collaborative model supporting local news capacity and shared infrastructure in the Central Valley.
Webpage designed by Woven Studio at The Nest