Well, we see it over, over, and again, the big news stories that mean the most to the state of our democracy don't always play out in Washington.

Instead, they unfold in neighborhoods on street corners around the country in real time.

In many cases, the first images don't come from national news outlets, but rather the people

who are there, cell phones in hand, including local journalists out in their communities.

Journalists are trained to confirm and contextualize, but what does that look like in today's

shifting media landscape?

Local reporters on the ground are crucial, but nearly 40% of local newspapers in the United States

have disappeared since the early 2000s. Even some of the biggest newspapers providing national

coverage out of major cities are also on shaky ground. The latest example,

massive layoffs expected at the Washington Post in the coming weeks. So what does it all mean

for how news gets made and especially who gets heard? What's at stake for our democracy?

And who's trying to chart a new path forward? I'm Jen White. And I'm Todd Zwillick.

You're listening to the 1A podcast, the latest in our weekly series, if you can keep it, after this.

Let's begin with Eric Wemple.

He's media correspondent for the New York Times.

He previously covered the news business for the Washington Post. Hi, Eric.

Hello. How's it going? Doing well. Now, Eric, as we said, Washington Post staffers are bracing for

significant layoffs. It seems the metro and sports sections are especially vulnerable, but what more do we

know about where the post is headed? Well, we don't know too much about where the Post is headed, at least vis-à-vis these layoffs.

I mean, the Washington Post is a, as you know, a tremendous investigative and

reportorial organization, and they have had hundreds of people on this particular story

within their own walls over the past three months, really, and very little news has, they've been able to,

...