Five elements determine which towns lose their papers and which ones beat the odds. Hans Henning Wenk/Getty Images
Why did your hometown newspaper vanish while the next town over kept theirs?
This isn’t bad luck − it’s a systemic pattern. Since 2005, the United States has lost over one-third of its local newspapers, creating “news deserts” where corruption is more likely to spread and communities may become politically polarized.
My research, published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, analyzes the factors behind the decline of local newspapers between 2004 and 2018. It identifies five key drivers − ranging from racial disparity to market forces − that determine which towns lose their papers and which ones beat the odds.
1. Newspapers follow the money, not community needs
You might expect news media to gravitate toward areas where their work is needed most − communities experiencing population growth or facing systemic challenges. But in reality,…
Source link : https://usa365.info/why-some-towns-lose-local-news-%E2%88%92-and-others-dont/
Author : USA365
Publish date : 2025-05-27 13:34:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
