The Consequences Of Declining Local Journalism

Published October 3, 2017 at 10:00 AM CDT

Dwayne Lewis reads a local newspaper covering the death of Gregg Allman, Saturday, June 3, 2017, in Macon, Ga. (Branden Camp/AP)

America’s local news-gathering operations are in trouble. We’ll look at efforts to save and strengthen local news.

When it comes to news gathering, news organizations, the cutbacks have come all over in recent years. But local news may have taken the most dire hit. You want to know what happened at the town council meeting this week? Or the zoning commission? Or just around the block? Good luck to you in too many communities now. This hour, On Point: Saving local news. And we’ll talk with Bob Schieffer of CBS about how to sort fake news from fact. — Tom Ashbrook.

Guests

Margaret Sullivan, media columnist at the Washington Post. Previously The New York Times public editor and chief editor of The Buffalo News. @Sulliview

From Tom’s Reading List

The Washington Post: Tension between Trump and the media? That’s nothing compared to journalism’s worst crisis —”It’s not exaggerating to say that all kinds of local reporting — from day-to-day city hall coverage to world-changing investigations like the one celebrated in the movie “Spotlight” — is faced with extinction.”

Nieman Lab: As giant platforms rise, local news is getting crushed — “But the most important job that local news has done for decades — providing a degree of accountability to thousands of local communities across the country — is increasingly going undone. And the chances of any true digital substitute arising seem to be on the decline.”

Poynter: Report for America aims to get 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms in next 5 years — “On Monday, a new project was announced at the Google News Lab Summit that aims to place 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms in the next five years. Report For America takes ideas from several existing organizations, including the Peace Corps, Americorps, Teach for America and public media.”