News Deserts // Key Post

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    America's growing news deserts - Columbia Journalism Review


News deserts is a term that is fairly new to me but after researching I have learned more about this growing problem. To start, what exactly is a news desert and why is this a problem growing today? A news desert is "a community, rural or urban, with limited access to the sort of credible and comprehensive news and information that deeds democracy at the grassroots level." (UNC Chapel Hill) This definition is on the newer side, it is more broad, and encompasses the risk of losing news through lost access. Lost access can mean one of two things. One being local news papers are not producing content anymore, or two, living in an area with no newspaper at all,  This problem mainly focus' on the local news level as more papers are cutting back on rural circulation/ coverage and people choose not to subscribe to the local newspapers anymore. 

    Many newspapers have stopped putting out as many issues as before, and it reflects in the quality of the paper. Some of these newspapers are owned by bigger corporations that just rant focusing on them as much anymore, creating deserts in large parts of the country. The places that will struggle the most economically are those places that are rural. 

    According to Al Cross, Director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, "A good local newspaper shows you how you're related to people you may not know you're related to...I tell editors constantly that the readers of your county are not just residents of a county but a region, a state and a nation." Local news is very much needed in many community to bring people together and ultimately provide information that is geared towards the local communities. A lot of government issues stem at the local level, providing people with the sources they need to stay updated on major topics such as gun control, healthcare, unemployment etc... 

    Recent data shows that US news fell in 2014 from 8,891 to 7,112 and in 2018, a decline of 1,779 newspapers, that included more than 60 daily newspapers. With what newspapers are left, its estimated that 1,500 newspapers are "ghost newspapers" or newspapers that don't produce enough content, and can't produce enough news for their community.

    According to a study done by the UNC School of Media and Journalism, the United States has 1,300 news deserts. There are 3,143 counties within the United States, and over 2,000 (3.2 Million residents total) of these counties don't have a daily local news paper. Unfortunately, people who live in news deserts tend to be more poor, older and less educated than Americans who don't live in news deserts. In 2018, a study proved that the biggest news desert was in the south, which was made up of over 90 news deserts. 

    Life in a news desert can look a lot different than you think. A study completed by CJR and UNC looked at counties where news deserts are currently present and looked more into their statistics. These are all reasons as to why news deserts should be a growing concern and something we all watch a little closer. One example would be Treasure County, Montana, their population less than 1,000 people and their last news publication closed in 2015. Their medium household income is lower than normal, their college graduate statistic is lower than usual, and so is their broadband access. To view more information on news deserts you can click here!








Sources

https://www.cislm.org/what-exactly-is-a-news-desert/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_desert

https://www.cjr.org/special_report/life-in-a-news-desert.php

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