The news is everywhere. Or so we hear. That news is available on line, on social media, on TV and of course on the radio.
But a new study reported by Axios says local news is disappearing in many local communities. This study by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University about the news is making news.
The report says the number of local newspapers disappearing is now accelerating at a very fast pace, with an average of two local newspapers folding every week over the last two years.
The trend has been downward for some 20 years. While there are still about 6,000 newspapers in the U.S. that’s down from about 9,000.
And the report says that when a local newspaper vanishes, it is often not replaced by another online source of local news with the amount of counties without any local news source is approaching ten percent.
The authors of this new report says the local news gap "poses a far-reaching crisis for our democracy as it simultaneously struggles with political polarization, a lack of civic engagement and the proliferation of misinformation.”
In journalism school, you are taught the importance of local news, because it’s the news that can most affect people, directly. And posts and chatter on social media and local neighborhood apps are often more gossip than fact.
That’s why the growing loss of real local news done by journalists is really big news.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images