We live in an age where more and more news seems to be geared to the national level. We have radio programming, cable news outlets, and big newspapers with national reach, like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. In many ways all of these forms of media are doing pretty well from a financial standpoint.
This stands in stark contrast to local newspapers, which had been the workhorses of American journalism for a long time. They are getting hammered financially, and many have gone out of business. The cost to our democracy from this trend is disturbing. We become more and more national in our thinking, sorting along the battle lines of our national political chasms. This means less regional variation within our major political parties. But more fundamentally, the death of local newspapers removes important checks on our governmental and private sector functions. From statehouses, to mayor’s offices, to police forces, to business communities, to zoning boards, important actions are being decided and implemented without coverage.
The pandemic, while global in scale, has once again put a spotlight on the importance of local journalism. We need to know what is happening in our communities; it is literally a matter of life and death. Add to this all the other urgencies of local news and it had us wondering about your local news habits.
We have great respect for you in the Steady community. We know you are interested in what is happening in your communities and feel a need to be informed. So we wanted to know…
Where you get your local news?
Do you see signs of hope or only despair?
Are new models emerging?
Have you seen your local newspapers (or other news sources) do innovative forms of coverage?
Have you recently subscribed to a local news outlet? Or have you dropped your coverage?
What do you think is being lost on the local news front?
Please add to these questions anything else you want to say on the topic. At Steady, we hope to make a focus on the plight of local news a recurring part of our coverage. And we are eager to have you help us in this effort.
We contribute to a local free publication, Willamette Week, and I check our local KGW website (mostly I rely on my husband to tell me what's there). I regularly read Oregon Public Broadcasting (local PBS) news online. We also have a digital antenna and sometimes watch the local news to keep up with the mainstream.
I get my local news from the @CBSNews channel. It’s the only news I trust to be factual. WCTV Tallahassee, FL