What happens when local newspapers shut down? Communities become 'news deserts'
By Alexi Cohan
April 13, 2022 Greater Boston
Charlie Sennott on Morning Edition | Apr. 13, 2022
Local media outlets such as newspapers are shutting down in communities in Massachusetts and across the nation. Media experts told Jim Braude on Greater Boston that closures could lead to a decline in voter participation and an increase in polarization.
"We don't have local reporters in town hall asking the hard questions. They might fill up on regional beats, but that's not the same as being in there digging in the local communities. We need that if we're going to have a democracy," said Charles Sennott, co-founder of Report for America.
Related Stories What The New York Times gets wrong — and right — in its editorial about free speech The country's first newspaper devoted to abolition closed in 1820. Now, it's coming back. Axios Local is coming to Boston. Will it find a place on your smartphone? Since 2004, the U.S. has lost more than 2,000 newspapers, according to the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, leaving many cities and towns without reliable, local news coverage known as "news deserts."
Ann Marie Lipinski, curator for Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism, said without local reporters around to hold businesses and public officials accountable, violations and penalties increase.
"A newspaper goes out of business, corruption goes up, fines go up, the government has to monitor these things to a greater degree, there's a cost to society," Lipinski said.
Lipinski and Sennott said in the future, journalists need to raise awareness about the issue of news deserts and the public needs to demand local news outlets. In addition, they predicted that new models for digital, nonprofit news organizations will flourish and need support to fill in the gaps in coverage.
Watch: Who gets away when local papers shut down?
Poster Comment:
When working for Illinois State Highways, this big shot Engineer wrote and Op-Ed for the Chicago Tribune titled, I Am A Zionist.
Later on, he was in the yard one day and his car was dirty. I wrote WASH ME on it. When he saw it, he started jumping up and down and screaming. They made the yard toady wash his car.
To off times these small town papers get to expensive to buy and people stop. The town I live in,17,000, the paper went from $200 a year to $300 a year, it took you 10 minutes to read.
Thirty years ago I received a dozen electrical engineering magazines every month -- almost all of them free. Glossy pages, in-depth technical articles, and of course lots of advertisements. Over time they all went away. Now I get none. Same for catalogs and data books.
Thirty years ago, I was in my prime working for Illinois State Highways. We did snow plowing in winter.
When I lived in Chicago, I had a 4x4 Blazer. I was heading home, and some woman had driven her car up on a center curb. I stopped and told her I would pull her off for $5. She agreed. So, I hooked up the chain and pulled her off.
She tried to drive away and CHING! Nothing doing. I walked up to the driver window. She handed me $10, and I kept it. I told her, "Don't move until I unhook the chain."
If she had to get a tow truck out there it likely would have cost her $50. ;)