Last month, we launched Yours. Truly., our civic awareness campaign focused on a critical question: Where does your news come from? The campaign highlights how corporate ownership and faraway interests shape the information we receive - and how public media, owned and supported by the community it serves, is an antidote to these prevailing trends.
Since then, news of mega-mergers, and layoffs have continued, including the news that CBS News Radio, the shop that Edward R. Murrow made famous, will shutting down entirely on May 22, 2026, eliminating all positions within the service that has existed for nearly 100 years.
While these developments may seem faraway, the local stakes are real and affect us here in Milwaukee. When consolidation at this scale occurs, it gives fewer companies more control over what we can see, hear, and know, often prioritizing corporate or shareholder interests over local interests, like a city council race or neighborhood issues.
Political scientists and economists have documented the fallout: corruption rises, voter behavior becomes more partisan, and the resulting information vacuum fills with content from social media platforms that have no stake in whether our community thrives.
Locally-owned, locally-rooted news organizations are more valuable than ever as a civic good. The trust we've built, the relationships we hold, the commitment to reporting for and reflecting this community back to itself — these are things no merger can manufacture and no algorithm can replicate.
At WUWM, we believe the response to these trends isn't despair, and it isn't going at it alone. It's about finding out what becomes possible when locally rooted news organizations face this moment together and use the most powerful tool any of us has: the ability to catalyze the civic conversations that help communities understand what's at stake and what they can do about it.
Today, April 9, is Local News Day and we join our partners and local news organizations to raise awareness of our shared work because we believe that when the local news ecosystem thrives, we all thrive. I invite you to listen to us, read us, come and get to know us, support us if you aren’t already.
This is just the beginning as we continue to activate the Yours. Truly. campaign and extend the civic conversation about the importance of local news and the organizations here providing it. If you believe, as we do, that what happens in Milwaukee deserves to be covered by people who live in Milwaukee, we hope you'll be part of it.
