When I was growing up, one of the favorite expressions in my family was, “no news is good news.” Or, to put it another way, “ignorance is bliss.”
That was then and this is now. With apologies to my parents, no news is definitely not good news. And remaining blissfully ignorant can be a recipe for civic disaster.
Imagine if you will, waking up in a desert, parched. Scanning the horizon, you see no relief in sight, no means to quench your ever-growing thirst. Unfortunately, this is the situation that now confronts Americans in more than 1,300 communities across the country who live in “news deserts,” places that have lost their local news coverage.
While we in the Upper Valley continue to live in a virtual news oasis, many of our compatriots are not so lucky. According to a 2018 study by the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Media, 1,800 metro and community newspapers have either gone out of business or merged in the past 15 years. In the same period, the number of reporters, photographers and editors has plummeted almost 50%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Driving this trend has been a precipitous decline in advertising revenue and changing demographics, not to mention changing reading habits.
It is no wonder, then, that New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet sounded an alarm earlier this year. At a gathering of media colleagues, Baquet asserted, “the greatest crisis in American journalism is the death of local news. … I think most local newspapers in America are going to die in the next five years.”
So where does this leave us? And why should we care?
I turn first to no less an authority than cartoonist Garry Trudeau. In a recent Sunday strip, Trudeau had his main character, Michael Doonesbury, pose the question, “Do I really need local news?” In response, he was told that “cities that lose their local paper suffer a big drop in civic engagement” and “lose a host of connections with their community.”
Then, in a scenario reminiscent of It’s A Wonderful Life, Trudeau walked Doonesbury through a bleak landscape of lost opportunities caused by the disappearance of local news. With tongue permanently planted in cheek, Trudeau cited missed concerts, bake sales and board meetings.
Painting a much darker picture of what happens in the absence of the traditional watchdog role played by local newspapers, the UNC study asserts that when government actions are no longer covered, citizens are left without critical information about everything from proposed tax increases to who is running for office.
“The stakes are high,” the UNC researchers conclude. “Our sense of community and our trust in democracy at all levels suffer when journalism is lost or diminished. … We need to make sure that whatever replaces the 20th century version of local newspapers serves the same community-building functions.”
And there’s the rub. Ultimately the issue is less about the protection of print and more about the preservation of local news gathering operations, whatever form they take.
We’re lucky. In the Upper Valley, in addition to the Valley News, we have access to such well-respected news outlets as Vermont Public Radio and New Hampshire Public Radio, Burlington’s weekly Seven Days and the nonprofit digital news outlets VTDigger and InDepthNH, not to mention online news aggregators (please note the distinction).
Given this abundance, surely there can be no immediate threat to our local news landscape. Yet even casual observers recognize that, in response to declining advertising revenue, profound changes have been taking place. For example, among other cost-saving measures, this newspaper has changed its format to reduce newsprint costs and its full-time staff of reporters, editors and photographers has been reduced by about a third since 2012. Even an expanding online presence — which means revenue counted in digital dimes instead of print dollars — won’t turn the tide.
What is most needed, in my humble opinion, is a change in the mindset of readers. More of us need to come around to thinking of organizations that gather local news as essential civic institutions, like fire departments, which we cannot do without.
Personally, after reviewing any number of rearguard actions that have been taken around the country to combat news desertification, the one I think has the greatest potential is philanthropy.
Already, in places as far flung as Seattle and Salt Lake City, civic-minded individuals are being asked to go beyond just being subscribers and become financial contributors as well. Such estimable publications as The Seattle Times and The Salt Lake Tribune have determined that, given the headwinds traditional journalism is facing, it can no longer be business as usual. In fact, by recently becoming the first daily newspaper in the country to be granted nonprofit status by the IRS, The Salt Lake Tribune has decided it can no longer be a business at all.
As we have learned in the Upper Valley, trends that start on the West Coast often slowly work their way east. The day may not be far away when VPR and NHPR aren’t the only local news organizations asking for and deserving our unwavering support in end-of-the year fund drives.
Skip Sturman, of Thetford, is director emeritus of Dartmouth Career Services.