There was a time when nearly every city council member expected someone from the local newspaper to be sitting in the front row. Today, in hundreds of counties across America, no one is there. They are known as “news deserts.”
The declining number of professional and objective media outlets covering local news is disturbing and dangerous. It is estimated that over 250 counties and 50 million Americans live in “news deserts.” Another 1,500 or more counties have only one local news print or broadcast outlet. Weekly, at least two newspapers are closing due to a multitude of challenges, including competition from the world’s “new media”: the internet. Since 2005, more than 3,500 local newspapers have closed.
America’s founders expected a free press to serve as an unofficial fourth estate — not with governmental authority, but armed with the ability to expose wrongdoing and inform voters. The press serves as a watchdog, exposing corruption, questioning government overreach, and informing the public. Due to limited access to media outlets, councils often pass motions that the public is unaware of. For instance, in June of 2024, in Perry Village, Ohio, a multimillion-dollar data center project was advanced without public records or impact studies, raising transparency concerns among the public. Questions remain about the project’s transparency and the availability of public records.
“News deserts” cannot fulfill the responsibility of informing the public when a single reporter is not available to ask questions.
Times have changed. Easy access to the internet created a juggernaut for established local media. Beginning in the early 1990s, media websites, podcasters, and columnists became infinitely available online. The internet democratized publishing, giving countless new voices an audience. Information became abundant, but reliable local reporting became scarce. The internet weakened the economic model that sustained local newspapers and broadcasters. Stories once passed through skeptical editors who challenged facts, demanded additional sources, and insisted on accuracy before publication.
Presently, anyone with a website can appear as authoritative as a veteran newsroom.
Some communities had newspaper competitors publishing opposing viewpoints and different perspectives. Politicians were cognizant of a reporter’s presence and of the publications that might follow those meetings. Journalists were the representatives of the public’s right and need to know.
THE MEDIA SAID TRUMP WAS ALONE ON IRAN. A 72% LANDSLIDE PROVES OTHERWISE
Democracy depends upon an informed citizenry, and an informed citizenry depends upon trustworthy local reporting. When a local newspaper disappears, more than ink disappears. Parents lose coverage of their children’s accomplishments. Veterans’ obituaries go unread. High school athletes lose their hometown spotlight. City councils discover fewer citizens are paying attention.
In my decades of owning local radio and television stations, I learned that having reporters in the room changed how public officials behaved. Democracy isn’t protected in a television studio or on social media. It is protected when someone is sitting in the back of a city council chamber, taking notes and asking questions. Until the U.S.’s news deserts bloom again, that protection will continue to fade.
William Pollack has spent more than four decades owning and operating local radio stations, television stations, and movie theaters.