For years, the story of local news was a story of loss: shuttered weeklies, hollowed-out dailies, and towns left without anyone to cover the school board. But a counter-trend is gathering steam. Across the country, community-funded micro-newsrooms — some run by a single reporter — are opening at the fastest pace in a decade.

The new model is simple: readers pay small amounts directly, and coverage stays fiercely local. No national politics, no syndicated filler — just zoning meetings, high school sports, and the new bakery on Main Street.

It turns out people will pay for news about the place they actually live. The lesson for the industry may be that local news never lost its audience. It lost its owners.