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Back in 2019, my colleague Kristen Hare wrote a piece for Poynter: “Did we just experience the hardest decade in journalism?”

It seemed like a valid question at the time. Newsrooms across the country were being eliminated. Journalists were losing their jobs. News deserts were expanding. Social media was changing how journalists did their job. President Donald Trump was helping to sow distrust in the media by popularizing phrases such as “fake news” and “enemy of the people.”

It’s hard to imagine things getting worse.

And yet, here we are in 2025.

So for the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast,” I started by asking Hare — Poynter faculty, director of craft and local news and the author of Local Edition, Poynter’s weekly newsletter for and about local journalists — if she remembered her 2019 story.

“Yes, and I’ve cringed multiple times in the years since it’s run,” Hare told me. “I do remember it, and when you mentioned that we were going to talk about it, I cringed again, and then went back and read it. And I thought a couple of things. One, I’m really glad that the headline is a question and not a declarative statement, right? Two, it holds up pretty well, actually, because all of the things that existed then still exist, but have accelerated at a pace.”

In this episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast,” Hare and I talk about the state of local news — the good, the bad, the ugly. And, to be sure, it’s not all gloom and doom.

Audiences still crave local news.

Print newspapers are certainly in decline, but Hare said, “I think that local audiences care less about where their news is coming from and more about how it impacts their lives.”

Local news is something that affects everybody. It can impact how you vote, it helps explain how your tax dollars are working, and it informs you on how your kids’ lives are being affected.

It’s true that surveys show that trust in the media has never been lower. Yet when people say they don’t trust the media, they are typically talking about national outlets — someone they saw on CNN or something they read in The New York Times.

People, however, generally do trust local news because it helps with their daily lives.

She told me, “You know, the things that I mentioned that I appreciate about our local news sites here are that because they’re relevant to my life, they’re telling me where to get supplies when we have to get ready for a hurricane, where to get information when it’s time to vote. You know what to do if something’s wrong with my (toll pass), where to go eat because there’s a new restaurant in town. And so relevance and usefulness are hugely important. The utility part of local news is something that I think journalists have to continue to remember that nobody sits around and thinks about us all day, that we sit around and think about them. We have to make ourselves relevant and useful in order to continue to remain something that they want to pay for, participate with, support and share.”

There’s much more to our conversation about local news. Aside from watching on YouTube, you can also find the show on Apple, Spotify, and most places where you find podcasts.

‘I’ve never seen anything like that’

The New York Times currently does not have a press credential to the Pentagon. Neither does The Washington Post or CNN or NBC News or just about any legitimate news organization.

Know who does have a credential? Laura Loomer, the far-right political activist and former congressional candidate in Florida, according to The Washington Post.

What in the world?

All the real news outlets that used to have credentials to work inside the Pentagon were kicked out after they rightfully refused to sign the new press policy for covering the Defense Department. That policy prohibits journalists from accessing or soliciting information that the Defense Department doesn’t make available to them, including even unclassified information.

Of course, signing such an absurd policy has been no problem for those pretending to be actual journalists from One America News, LindellTV, The Federalist, The Epoch Times and a bunch of other ragtag outlets.

Now add Loomer to the list.

The Washington Post’s Scott Nover and Drew Harwell wrote, “Loomer, 32, has forged a close alliance with President Donald Trump, routinely meeting with the president in the Oval Office during his second term. She has frustrated some in the administration with her proximity to Trump and public criticisms of high-ranking defense and national security officials who she argues are disloyal to Trump — some of whom have been dismissed soon after her rebukes.”

They added, “Loomer’s social media posts have presaged the firings of several Trump officials, and she has often bragged that she ‘Loomered’ them, using her slang term for such conquests. But some in the administration have suggested Loomer overplays her influence by only offering a preview of actions that were already imminent.”

But the fact that Loomer would even be credentialed shows just how unserious the Pentagon and Trump administration are about press access.

The New York Times’ Ken Bensinger and Erik Wemple wrote, “President Trump and his appointees have often criticized the journalists who follow them on a daily basis, but until now, the administration has never gone so far as to effectively remake an entire press corps.”

Eric Schultz, who served as a press aide under President Barack Obama, told the Times, “I’ve never seen anything like that, and it doesn’t seem to resemble anything from a team that respects an actual independent press corps.”

Name change

(Courtesy: USA Today Co.)

One of the most recognizable names in journalism is changing that name.

Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the country, is changing its name to USA Today Company. The chain formerly known as Gannett owns USA Today.

CEO Mike Reed said in a statement, “We are changing our name and rebranding to embrace our most notable masthead — which is committed to delivering fact-based news, unbiased coverage and essential content that meets audiences in the center. Our focus on empowering and enriching communities at a local and national level as a growth-focused media and digital marketing solutions business is what unites our company in service to our nationwide USA Today Network.”

The name change will take effect Nov. 18.

Aside from USA Today, the chain owns more than 200 newspapers across the U.S., including The Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa, The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee, The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida and the Detroit Free Press in Detroit, Michigan.

Name change, part 2

Speaking of name changes, MSNBC is officially switching over to MS NOW on Nov. 15. On Tuesday night, during its prime-time election coverage, the network unveiled its national campaign to let viewers know about the name change.

It aired two 60-second spots: one featuring prime-time host Rachel Maddow and the other featuring the late American poet Dr. Maya Angelou.

Maddow’s spot includes her reading the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. The one with Angelou is from her 1996 United Nations reading of “The Human Family,” in which she says, “I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum reports the name change is costing the network about $20 million. The network is changing its name because it is being spun off from NBCUniversal and no longer has professional ties with NBC News.

Maddow told Grynbaum, “This isn’t something that we sought, obviously.” She said she eventually came around on having a “a hook to reintroduce ourselves to people, to reintroduce ourselves to the country, and remind our viewers what it is they like about us.”

She added, “I was annoyed. And now I’m kind of happy about it.”

Give her view

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., shown here in February. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Controversial Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia appeared on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday. Who ever would’ve thought you’d read that sentence?

But, in the end, her appearance went off without any incidents.

Greene called out Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson over the government shutdown, saying, “It’s an embarrassment.”

Greene told the co-hosts, “I have no problem pointing fingers at everyone. And the worst thing that I just can’t get over is we’re not working right now. And I put that criticism directly on the speaker of the House, and we should be at work.”

Greene said she is not taking a paycheck during the shutdown, adding, “I want all federal employees to be paid. I want all the programs to be funded, and I think that is our job, all of us together, Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate. Look, I am with women, so I feel very comfortable saying this, I am really tired of the pissing contest in Washington, D.C., between the men.”

She then added, “When I talk about weak Republican men, I am pretty much talking oftentimes about the leadership in the House and Senate, and they are just not getting our agenda done.”

The conversation also included topics such as free speech and Israel.

As I said, the interview didn’t have any of the fireworks that some might have expected.

Greene told “The View” co-hosts, “A lot of people wanted me to come on the show and say nasty things, and for all of us to fight. I didn’t want to do that today. … All of us right here are doing a great job of exchanging our ideas and things that we believe in, and we’re doing it in a very professional and kind way.”

‘Ridiculousness’ canceled

After 14 years on the air, MTV’s “Ridiculousness” has been canceled. The show, which produced more than 1,400 episodes, featured viral clips of amateur stunts gone wrong — almost like a real-life “Jackass.”

Here’s what makes this so interesting and why I’m writing about it here in the newsletter. For years, MTV was known for one thing: showing music videos. Eventually, however, it began pulling away from music-oriented programming and filled its schedule with original shows. “Ridiculousness” became one of the more popular shows on the network. Back in 2020, Variety reported that it aired for 113 hours out of the network’s entire 168-hour lineup.

And this also was noteworthy. Last week, Bloomberg’s Jonathan Randles reported that MTV was paying “Ridiculousness” host and executive producer Rob Dyrdek, a former professional skateboarder, at least $32 million a year.

First-run episodes will continue to air into 2026, but no new shows are being shot.

Media tidbits

• The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr tweeted that McClatchy media chain is shutting down its Washington, D.C., bureau and is laying off some staff. We’ll have more in the days ahead.
• Sunday night’s interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” with President Donald Trump drew 14 million viewers, according to CBS. That would make it the most-watched “60 Minutes” since nearly 15 million watched the episode on Jan. 10, 2021 — just days after the Jan. 6 insurrection. As Axios’ Sara Fischer noted, that episode “featured interviews with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Trump’s phone call pressuring Raffensperger to find votes to overturn his election loss.”
• Fox News’ interview with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, will air tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on “Jesse Watters Primetime.” It will be her first TV interview since her husband was shot and killed at an event in Utah on Sept. 10. One of the topics that came up in the interview was the suspension of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin has more with “Sinclair Reached Out to Charlie Kirk’s Widow Amid Jimmy Kimmel Suspension: ‘How Can We Make It Right?’”
• Variety’s Tatiana Siegel, Brent Lang and Matt Donnelly with “Inside David Ellison’s Dramatic First 100 Days at Paramount: Courting Tom Cruise Blockbusters, Forging Ties With Trump and Daring Anyone Else to Buy Warner Bros. Discovery.”

Hot type

• For The New York Times Magazine, David Gauvey Herbert with “She Was Ready to Have Her 15th Child. Then Came the Felony Charges.”
• The Washington Post’s Elizabeth Dwoskin with “The secretive donor circle that lifted JD Vance is now rewriting MAGA’s future.”

More resources for journalists

• Watch both webinars in full to deepen your coverage of women in criminal justice and become eligible to apply for one of five $10,000 reporting grants — Nov. 7 is your last chance to apply. Enroll now.
• Experienced managers: Develop the must-have skills journalists need to lead media organizations of the future. Apply now.
• Interested in learning more about funding local news? Start here.
• Journalists: It’s time to take care of yourself, too. Enroll now in a free session on embodiment practices to rest and regroup.
• Amp up your editing skills, improve your work life and advance your career with Poynter’s ACES Certificates.
• Experienced managers: Develop the must-have skills journalists need to lead media organizations of the future. Apply now.
• Gain the skills to spot AI risks like bias, misinformation and hallucinations before they harm your work. Enroll now.
• Stop wasting hours on repetitive tasks — automate them instead. Learn how..
• Access a list of mental health reporting resources on funding, source-building and more.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

The Poynter Report is your daily dive into the world of media, packed with the latest news and insights. Get it delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here. And don’t forget to tune into our biweekly podcast for even more.