Jul 17, 2026 · 28 min · 13 segments
Julia and Dylan reunite to examine the perennial crisis in local news and The New York Times’ new bet on solving it—a local newsletter launching in the Twin Cities. They discuss the strategic thinking…
Julia AlexanderHost
Dylan ByersHost
Uh, Julia, I am thrilled to talk about, uh, your latest piece for In the Room because I will tell you this, we write for and often talk for an audience of people who are in the media, i- including many, uh, media executives and entrepreneurs, and the vast majority of them who I talk to have almost entirely given up on local news or have-
... no interest in it, right? The conversation is always about national, international.
Alternatively, when I go, uh, out on the road and talk to, like, the consumers and the people who actually care, particularly those of an older generation, they are obsessed with the question of local news.
They often feel a greater level of trust in local news and want to know Who is going to bring back local news? Because I think they see that as sort of like the seed of the, uh, of the problem in terms of, like, the decline of trust, not just in media, but in institutions generally.
And once in a while, we do get a media executive who comes along and says, "Actually, we can solve for this problem."
It certainly seems like a- an important aspect of their business, if not necessarily the silver bullet that is going to save local news.
But as you write today, the latest media executive to come along, uh, with a pitch for saving local news is none other than Meredith Kopit Levien at The New York Times, which is like, if anyone can do this, it's probably her, it's probably The New York Times, and they are testing the waters with a local newsletter in the Twin Cities.
I, I think you and I, uh, cover The New York Times well enough to know that this, this isn't something you do unless you have very, um, real ambitions in this space.
What do you make of this? Do you think that it's possible that this could be, uh, the beginning of something that they then scale to markets around the country, i- if not beyond? What, what, what do you see happening here?
Yeah, it's a little ironic too, right? 'Cause The New York Times does so much excellently.
I think the one soft spot The New York Times does not do well is New York news.
Uh, Julia, I am thrilled to talk about, uh, your latest piece for In the Room because I will tell you this, we write for and often talk for an audience of people who are in the media, i- including many, uh, media executives and entrepreneurs, and the vast majority of them who I talk to have almost entirely given up on local news or have-
... no interest in it, right? The conversation is always about national, international.
Alternatively, when I go, uh, out on the road and talk to, like, the consumers and the people who actually care, particularly those of an older generation, they are obsessed with the question of local news.
They often feel a greater level of trust in local news and want to know Who is going to bring back local news? Because I think they see that as sort of like the seed of the, uh, of the problem in terms of, like, the decline of trust, not just in media, but in institutions generally.
And once in a while, we do get a media executive who comes along and says, "Actually, we can solve for this problem."
It certainly seems like a- an important aspect of their business, if not necessarily the silver bullet that is going to save local news.
But as you write today, the latest media executive to come along, uh, with a pitch for saving local news is none other than Meredith Kopit Levien at The New York Times, which is like, if anyone can do this, it's probably her, it's probably The New York Times, and they are testing the waters with a local newsletter in the Twin Cities.
I, I think you and I, uh, cover The New York Times well enough to know that this, this isn't something you do unless you have very, um, real ambitions in this space.
What do you make of this? Do you think that it's possible that this could be, uh, the beginning of something that they then scale to markets around the country, i- if not beyond? What, what, what do you see happening here?
Yeah, it's a little ironic too, right? 'Cause The New York Times does so much excellently.
I think the one soft spot The New York Times does not do well is New York news.
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3 of 5
Why Only NYT & Axios
Julia outlines who can truly fix local
Times' New York Blindspot
A surprising confession about Times' weak spot
Subscription Math 101
Breaking down subscriptions in plain business terms
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