Introduction to Local News API

What is Local News API?

Local News API is a specialized service focused on U.S. location-specific content. Building on our core News API v3 infrastructure, it adds dedicated location detection capabilities optimized for city, county, and state-level news coverage. The system processes content from thousands of local news sources, including small city publishers, regional outlets, university newspapers, and local government news portals.

Features

Six distinct location detection methods
Content from thousands of local U.S. news sources, including city publishers, university newspapers, and government portals
Specialized validation of location relevance, not just location mentions

Key differences from News API v3

For users familiar with our core News API v3, Local News API offers these key enhancements:

Feature	Local News API	News API v3
Geographic focus	U.S. local coverage with specialized location detection	Global news coverage
Location handling	Basic NER plus six specialized detection methods	Basic geographic filtering using NER
Historical data	30 days of history	Up to 5 years of history
Source types	Local newspapers, government sites, university outlets	Major publications, international sources

Location detection methods

The system uses six distinct methods to detect and validate locations in news articles:

Dedicated Source

Identifies articles from news sources exclusively covering a specific location (highest confidence)

Local Section

Identifies locations through dedicated sections in larger publications

Regional Source

Uses regional context to properly interpret and disambiguate location mentions

Standard Format

Identifies locations written in standard formats like “City, State”

Proximity Mention

Detects cities and states mentioned within 15 words of each other

AI Extraction

Uses AI-based content analysis to identify locations (requires AI Extraction plan)

For detailed information on each method, see Location detection methods.

Base URL

For API requests use the following base URL:

https://local-news.newscatcherapi.com

Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description	Use Case
`/api/search`	POST	Full-text search with location filtering	Find articles matching specific criteria for given locations
`/api/latest_headlines`	POST	Recent articles by location	Monitor latest news for specific towns or regions
`/api/search_by`	POST	Direct article lookup	Retrieve specific articles using URLs, IDs, or RSS GUIDs
`/api/sources`	POST	Available news sources	Discover local news providers by region

Request format

Include your API key in the x-api-token header for each request. All requests must use HTTPS.

{
  "q": "venture capital",
  "locations": ["San Francisco, California"],
  "detection_methods": ["dedicated_source", "standard_format"],
  "lang": "en",
  "from_": "7 days ago"
}

Response format

All API responses are JSON objects containing articles and metadata. The key response fields include:

status

string

The status of the request. Always returns "ok" for successful requests.

total_hits

integer

The total number of articles matching the query.

page

integer

The current page number of the results.

total_pages

integer

The total number of pages available for the given search criteria.

page_size

integer

The number of articles per page.

articles

array

An array of article objects, each containing location-specific metadata and content.

string

required

The unique identifier for the article.

locations

array

A list of locations mentioned in the article along with their detection methods.

score

number

The relevance score of the article.

title

string

required

The title of the article.

author

string

The primary author of the article.

link

string

required

The URL link to the article.

description

string

A brief description of the article.

media

string

The URL of the media associated with the article, typically an image.

content

string

required

A snippet or summary of the article’s content.

authors

array

A list of authors of the article.

published_date

string

required

The date and time the article was published.

published_date_precision

string

required

The precision of the published date.

updated_date

string

The date and time the article was last updated.

updated_date_precision

string

The precision of the updated date.

is_opinion

boolean

required

Indicates if the article is an opinion piece.

twitter_account

string

The Twitter account associated with the article. Can be null.

domain_url

string

required

The domain URL of the article’s source.

parent_url

string

The parent URL of the article, typically representing the homepage of the source.

word_count

integer

The word count of the article.

rank

integer

required

The rank of the article’s source.

country

string

The country code where the article was published.

rights

string

The rights information for the article, typically the domain name.

language

string

The language code in which the article is written.

paid_content

boolean

Indicates if the article is paid content.

nlp

object

Natural Language Processing data for the article.

user_input

object

The parameters used in your request for verification and debugging.

For detailed descriptions of all available response fields, refer to the specific endpoint documentation in the Endpoints section.

Example response

Response
{
  "status": "ok",
  "total_hits": 35,
  "page": 1,
  "total_pages": 1,
  "page_size": 100,
  "articles": [
    {
      "id": "dabf25a5cbee2705f1ab866eeafdc835",
      "locations": [
        {
          "name": "San Francisco, California",
          "detection_methods": ["dedicated_source"]
        }
      ],
      "score": 17.720953,
      "title": "Tech company to move headquarters from San Francisco to Texas"
      // Additional fields omitted for brevity
    }
  ]
}

Use cases

Local News API is designed for applications requiring location-specific news intelligence:

Local news applications: Deliver geographically relevant content to users.
Regional business monitoring: Track company activities in specific markets.
Real estate intelligence: Monitor development news, policy changes, and market trends.
Media analysis: Examine coverage patterns across geographic regions.
Government affairs: Track policy issues at local and regional levels.
Crisis monitoring: Follow emergencies and public health issues by location.
University research: Analyze local media coverage of regional issues.

Getting started

Visit our pricing page to get your API key.
Follow the Quickstart guide to make your first request and comprehend the basic workflow.
Review the Location detection methods documentation to understand how the system identifies and validates location mentions.
Dive into the API reference for detailed endpoint documentation and advanced query options.

Overview

Endpoints

​What is Local News API?

​Features

​Key differences from News API v3

​Location detection methods

Dedicated Source

Local Section

Regional Source

Standard Format

Proximity Mention

AI Extraction

​Base URL

​Endpoints

​Request format

​Response format

​Example response

​Use cases

​Getting started

What is Local News API?

Features

Key differences from News API v3

Location detection methods

Base URL

Endpoints

Request format

Response format

Example response

Use cases

Getting started