Local journalism took a serious hit earlier this year when it was announced that The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Pittsburgh City Paper, both owned by Block Communications Inc. (BCI) would be shutting down.

The latter of the two was shut down effective almost immediately and has been out of print since the start of the new year, but it wasn’t the end of an era.

Last week it was announced that Pittsburgh City Paper would be relaunching under new ownership — a glimmer of hope for local journalism. Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization LocalMatters bought Pittsburgh City Paper from BCI last Thursday, with almost all of the editorial staff returning to their jobs.

Ali Trachta, City Paper’s executive editor, told 90.5 WESA that she was grateful to the people that made the paper’s return happen.

“ I think Pittsburgh really deserves this,” Trachta said.

Pittsburgh, and every city, deserves a thriving local media landscape. We at The Duke know how crucial it is.

Not only will most of us work in local news at some point and have friends that do now, local news helps us deliver a paper to you every Thursday. Our news editor uses it to discover emerging off campus stories, our arts and entertainment editor spends time browsing weekly roundups and listicles to find interesting events and local news supplied us with the information needed to write this staff editorial. Local news is an integral part of our newsroom.

We care about local news, because it’s our job, but so should you. National publications are great for informing you about national stories, but you probably won’t find much about our mid size city. The New York Times isn’t going to tell you about the new bridge being built on the Parkway East or the new coffee shop opening soon. That responsibility falls to the journalists at Pittsburgh-based outlets.

“Pittsburgh did something really cool and different. That sets a new standard for the rest of the country,” Andrew Conte, head of Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation said to 90.5 WESA.

This announcement goes beyond Pittsburgh, it sets a precedent that investing in local stories is important and possible.

Earlier in the month CBS News reported on a story that said previous staff members of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette were cautiously optimistic that the paper would remain under new management. We hope that this news shows that local journalism matters and another paper will be saved.