News Deserts Need Watering

From The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan 1/18/24

Headline:  “Local newspapers are withering under destructive owners. We should worry”

https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2024/jan/18/local-newspapers-media-chain-ownership-baltimore-sun-sinclair

“You can see this trend almost everywhere. Newspapers have faded and the growth of digital news outlets – while encouraging – hasn’t kept up with the losses. There are far fewer reporters now than 15 years ago, and they are much more concentrated in places like Washington DC and New York City. Local newspapers go out of business every week.”

“That turns huge swaths of the US into “news deserts” – places where there is virtually no credible local journalism. Democracy suffers as citizens become less engaged and more polarized, and as government corruption flourishes because the watchdog has gone silent.”