- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
- Messages
- 10,646
- Reaction score
- 3,067
- Points
- 1,010
One industry that’s really struggling, way more than most people think, is local journalism. Sure, we hear about newspapers shutting down now and then, but the reality is much worse when you dig a little deeper.
Many local news outlets are barely holding on, with skeleton crews of reporters trying to cover entire communities. Advertising revenue, which used to be their lifeline, has shifted almost entirely to big tech giants like Google and Facebook.
This leaves them scraping by with smaller budgets and fewer resources, which, in turn, affects their ability to report on important issues like local government, schools, and events. Without these watchdogs, so many critical stories are going untold, and that’s a scary thought for democracy.
I actually saw this firsthand a few years ago. A small paper in my hometown had been around for nearly a century—it covered everything from high school football games to city council meetings.
But one day, the editor, who I’d known since I was a kid, told me they were closing their doors. I remember him saying, “We’re not losing because people don’t care; we’re losing because we can’t compete with a Facebook ad.” It hit me hard. A few months later, a big environmental issue came up in our town, and no one was around to dig into it. It felt like the community had lost its voice.
The irony is, people started realizing how much they depended on that paper only after it was gone. That experience taught me how much we take local journalism for granted and how its struggles have ripple effects we might not notice until it’s too late.
Many local news outlets are barely holding on, with skeleton crews of reporters trying to cover entire communities. Advertising revenue, which used to be their lifeline, has shifted almost entirely to big tech giants like Google and Facebook.
This leaves them scraping by with smaller budgets and fewer resources, which, in turn, affects their ability to report on important issues like local government, schools, and events. Without these watchdogs, so many critical stories are going untold, and that’s a scary thought for democracy.
I actually saw this firsthand a few years ago. A small paper in my hometown had been around for nearly a century—it covered everything from high school football games to city council meetings.
But one day, the editor, who I’d known since I was a kid, told me they were closing their doors. I remember him saying, “We’re not losing because people don’t care; we’re losing because we can’t compete with a Facebook ad.” It hit me hard. A few months later, a big environmental issue came up in our town, and no one was around to dig into it. It felt like the community had lost its voice.
The irony is, people started realizing how much they depended on that paper only after it was gone. That experience taught me how much we take local journalism for granted and how its struggles have ripple effects we might not notice until it’s too late.
