Times explores crisis of vanishing local press

The New York Times published a special section on the failure of local newspapers and the effect on their communities in their Sunday edition, August 4, 2019. Here are summaries of two articles in the section. 

When the Warroad Pioneer closed down May 7, it left its small Minnesota town just below the Canadian border with no one to write obituaries or stories on the high school hockey team and no one to report on town hall and the school district and to hold elected officials accountable. It meant news would travel through social media and word of mouth with no quick way to verify its veracity. (The New York Times, August 4, 2019, by Richard Fausset)

Americans have great trust in local news but only a few pay for it. Local newspapers lack the ability to amass users like Facebook. To grapple with this problem, the Knight Foundation initiated the “table stakes” movement in 2015 to train local newspapers to better meet the needs of their readers, gain their financial support and improve communities. The program has shown some results with over ten table stakes participants winning or been finalists for a Pulitzer Prize since 2015. (The New York Times, August 4, 2019, by Douglas K. Smith)

For prior FAC coverage on the problem, click here and here.