Still Local.
Across the country, most local television stations have become part of larger broadcast groups. Ownership changed, newsrooms consolidated, buildings emptied out, and the connection between a station and its community often became harder to define.
But a small number of stations never followed that path. They stayed local. They stayed independent. They stayed tied to the families, towns, and regions that built them.
Still Local is a short documentary project exploring what these rare stations mean now, not just as broadcasters, but as civic institutions.
This is not a nostalgia piece about the “good old days” of television. It is a story about what happens when local journalism is still rooted in a place, when ownership still has a face, and when a newsroom remains connected to the community it serves.
At a time when trust in media is fragile, local newsrooms are shrinking, and communities are flooded with national noise, these stations raise a simple but urgent question:
What does local ownership still mean?
The idea
This project will look at a small group of long-standing, locally owned television stations that have remained connected to their communities through decades of change.
Some were started by families who believed their region needed its own voice. Some grew out of local newspaper traditions. Some survived fires, recessions, industry consolidation, and the collapse of the old media business model.
Their stories are different, but the larger question is the same:
Why did they stay?
And maybe more importantly:
What would be lost if they disappeared?
Why now
Local journalism is at a crossroads.
Newspapers have closed. Newsrooms have been cut back. Audiences are fragmented across platforms, algorithms, and political identities. At the same time, communities still need trusted local information… storms, fires, elections, school decisions, local government, public safety, small businesses, neighbors helping neighbors.
The need for local journalism has not gone away. The business around it has changed completely. That tension is the heart of this project.
The approach
The films will be intimate, human, and observational.
The goal is not to create a corporate history video or a promotional piece for any one station. The goal is to tell a larger story through real people and real places: owners, journalists, producers, photographers, anchors, engineers, former employees, and community members who understand what these stations have meant over time.
The visual style will be grounded and cinematic, station buildings, archives, old photographs, active newsrooms, control rooms, local streets, and the small details that make each place feel local. The story is not about technology…
It is about memory, trust, identity, and the people who keep showing up!
About the filmmaker
I’m Matt Quinn, a longtime local broadcast creative director and storyteller. I’ve worked across local television for many years, including time with CBS News, Gray Television, KPTV in Portland, WOIO in Cleveland, and other local broadcast groups.
My background is in creative direction, production, design, and visual storytelling, but what draws me to this project is much more personal… I believe local television still matters when it is deeply connected to the place it serves.
I’ve spent much of my career inside local stations, working with the people who make them run. I understand the pride, the pressure, the strange charm, and the very real importance of these places.
This project is my attempt to capture that before more of it disappears.