The Death of Local Journalism
How nonreporting is affecting local politics
It’s no surprise that newspaper subscriptions have been declining over the past decade. With the rise of social media, the news is more readily accessible than ever. You no longer have to wait for a paper to be dropped off at your door to get the news of the day. Simply log into Facebook and read the articles (or in many cases, just the headlines) their algorithm spits on to your timeline, no matter how reliable the source.
If Facebook isn’t your thing, you always have the option of turning on one of the hyper-partisan cable news networks that most aligns with your personal political views. There’s something for everyone out there.
But are any of those news channels or Facebook pages covering your day-to-day city council or town board meetings? Unless they deem it national newsworthy, I’d say probably not.
Pew Research Center shows in their latest State of the News Media report that circulation of newspapers throughout the country has been on a steady decline over the last decade.
How does this affect local government? Well, without local journalists, city politicians can get away with more controversial positions and policies. No one is there to hold them accountable for their actions and, frankly, without newspapers, most of their constituents have no idea what is going on in city hall.
This is a problem.
My local newspaper shut down in 2015 as a result of financial struggles. This meant no more reports on events taking place around town, high school sports scores, or profiles on candidates running for office. It also meant the city council could get away with unpopular decisions, such as appointing unqualified people for jobs simply because they are a friend. Or striking down motions that would benefit the city because a councilperson of a different party came up with the idea first.
Yes, this is just partisan politics. But the core issue is that no one was there to question these poor decisions and inform the public of the nonsense going on. We had to learn of these incidents through a Facebook group of about 800 people. The group is dedicated to local politics. However, my city has a population of just over 30,000. A newspaper would’ve had the potential to reach a significantly larger portion of the city residents, many of whom would be extremely upset at the council for their actions.
Things like this are not only occurring in my hometown but in many cities across the country.
Let’s take New Jersey for example. The long-shot Republican candidate for state senate, Edward Durr, defeated Democrat Steve Sweeney, a powerful figure in New Jersey state politics. Durr has a history of posting racist and bigoted comments on his social media pages. However, this was not uncovered until after he had won the election.
Shouldn’t his potential constituents know the things he’s posting online?
It turns out, Durr has been making incendiary comments for years, dating back to 2017. However, the lack of local news coverage in New Jersey caused this revelation to fall through the cracks and only reappear after Durr was elected and the story hit national news.
How does this happen? Well, The Washington Post reported that the southern New Jersey region once had four daily newspapers. But in 2012, Advance Publications merged three that it owned — the Gloucester County Times, Today’s Sunbeam in Salem County, and the News of Cumberland County — into a single paper: the South Jersey Times. Salem, Gloucester, and Cumberland counties are the heart of Durr’s district. Three counties is a lot of ground to cover for one team of journalists.
Had the local papers been in place, more watchful eyes would have been dialed in on this election. People deserve to know the type of candidate they’re voting for to represent them. Character is a crucial attribute that many voters use when making their decisions on election day. With an election as close as this one, nonreporting appears to have played a critical role in the outcome.
The question remains: How do we solve this problem?
Local elections are where, as voters, we have the most control. But without local journalism informing us of the issues, how can we make the appropriate choice in the voting booth? Blindly voting for candidates based on party alone is foolish.
There are many questions surrounding this week’s post, and I hope one day we have the answers. Local news is too important to just throw to the curb.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Have a great weekend.
