More than 50 million Americans today have no access to local news.
Nationally, more than one-third of newspapers have disappeared – with 136 closing in the past year.
At the same time, the researchers with the Medill State of Local News initiative found a glimmer of hope, finding in their annual survey an increase of more than 300 stand-alone local digital news sites rising in the past five years.
“This report highlights the historic transformation in local news,” said Tim Franklin, professor and John M. Mutz chair in Local News at Medill in a news release announcing the results of the annual survey last month.
Orange County is way ahead of that curve, with Voice of OC marking its Sweet Sixteen this year.
Yet that success and stamina depends on you.
Voice of OC Civic Editor, Spencer Custodio, middle, attends a press conference where Congressman Lou Correa speaks to reporters about the recent immigration enforcements in the city of Santa Ana on June 10, 2025. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
This month, Voice of OC launches its annual Fall fundraiser – connected to the national News Match fundraising campaign for local news, which aims to bolster the nonprofit news movement that is reshaping what news in America looks like.
Nonprofit and nonpartisan.
At Voice of OC, readers have increasingly taken on the challenge by stepping up to fund local news.
Over the next two months, readers will notice our reminders on our main news site.
In our model, readers who get value from the news our team produces get to set their own subscription rate and can also deduct it from their taxes as a donation – unlike a traditional subscription.
For any reader that regularly connects with Voice of OC news copy – whether on the main site or through the daily email newsletter or on social media – this is the best time to make that annual contribution as it’s matched.
In some cases, up to 12 times the amount donated.
A healthy fall fundraiser for the newsroom allows us to keep expanding reporters and reporting partnerships with local universities, which is increasingly helping Voice of OC get to smaller communities around the county, ensuring residents get critical quality of life news.
A family plays on San Clemente Pier on May 4, 2025, in San Clemente, California. CREDIT: ALLIE LEICHTER, Voice of OC.
The key to Voice of OC coverage is keeping you as residents ahead of the speed chess played by local special interests who are aiming at making your local treasury respond to them instead of local neighborhoods.
Take for example, our free news archives – which covers every countywide election and budget deliberation in Orange County going back to 2010.
We’ve heard from so many local researchers, elected officials, media partners and readers that having that ability to go back and see how things were approved or opposed is key for charting the future.
In realtime, our coverage keeps residents ahead of their local government and puts them in a position to really craft a better quality of life.
Just earlier this year, the newsroom earned about 30 different recognitions from the California News Publishers Association for quality coverage, earning a third, General Excellence Award and a second Public Service award.
Our reporting regularly connects the dots on corruption scandals that have rocked cities like Anaheim, exposes that ultimately saved Angel Stadium from being sold in a shadowy process with a low price tag.
[Read: Anaheim City Council Cans Angel Stadium Deal After FBI Corruption Probe Into City Hall]
Or at the County Hall of Administration after the bribery scandal involving former County Supervisor Andrew Do – who once nicknamed us the “Noise of OC” because of the voluminous public records requests submitted by our newsroom reporters.
[Read: Former OC Supervisor Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison in Bribery Scheme]
Board of Supervisor Andrew Do during a Jan. 10, 2023 meeting. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
Or places like Santa Ana where our reporting ended the city’s illegal approach to restricting photography at council meetings.
[Read: Santa Ana Officials Back Off on Restricting Photojournalists After Backlash]
In addition, college reporters working with the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service also keep making a difference alongside the newsroom’s full-time professional journalists.
It’s because of their award-winning efforts that the OC animal shelter is now allowing more walk-in visitors – a real change that means less animals get euthanized because more of them get adopted.
[Read: OC Animal Shelter to Allow More In-Person Visitors]
Same goes for the billion dollar transit agency in OC, which held back from televising its meetings for more than a decade until collegiate reporters put that practice under a microscope – attention that forced leaders to open up.
[Read:OC’s Transportation Agency Begins Video Streaming Public Meetings]
The California National Guard stations outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Santa Ana on June 10, 2025. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
The Voice of OC team has also kept track of the ongoing federal deportation sweeps impacting scores of residents – detailing how community organizations and volunteers are helping families whose loved ones have been detained, along with examining who’s getting swept up in the ICE raids.
[Read: Are Large ICE Raids Coming Back to Orange County?]
Whether it’s breaking news, or our community calendar or the host of local government, health care, transportation and in-depth reporting that the newsroom produces every day, Orange County is a better place because of this focus on community.
Yet while all this coverage is free to all Orange County residents, it isn’t free to produce.
Every year when readers respond to this annual fundraising call, they send an important message to local politicians and special interests keen on spending public money to advance their interests.
We are all on watch.
And we’re not letting our region turn into a news desert.
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