The Main Principles Of Local News Online

Wiki Article

Some Known Factual Statements About Local News Online

News organizations estimate that these negotiations have injected $200 million in Australian dollars into the budgets of the country’s news outlets — although it is unclear how much went to the two dozen smaller local newspapers that participated. Supporters are hoping Congress will vote on the U.S. version of the bill, which has bipartisan support, this fall.

A bill in Wisconsin with bipartisan support would provide tax credits to local businesses that advertise in local newspapers. Local News Online. Legislators in a handful of other states have proposed credits for taxpayers who subscribe to local newspapers and digital sites. Given the highly charged partisan politics in both Washington and many state capitals, Steve Waldman, founder of Rebuild Local News, a coalition of 17 industry organizations, is looking at existing federal and state policies that would support local ownership of news outlets, especially in low- and moderate-income communities, as well as minority communities

Many of those organizations have difficulty getting credit and equity financing that will keep their businesses viable. Waldman notes that at least 1,500 locally owned newspapers and dozens of digital outlets serve low- or moderate-income communities. In addition, there are more than 400 local outlets in Black communities and more than 600 in Hispanic communities.

A broadcast license is a privilege and should come with requirements for serving the community where it is located.” Outside of several dozen large cities, we are a nation of small towns and communities. Seventy five percent of the nation’s 20,000 incorporated cities have fewer than 5,000 residents; 40% have fewer than 500 residents.

Local News Online Can Be Fun For Anyone

Most are not large enough to support either a for-profit newspaper or nonprofit digital startup, according to Picard, who estimates a news organization needs at least 1,000 subscribers — and the strong financial backing of either advertisers or deep-pocket philanthropists — to be viable. While there has been a significant increase in financial support for local news in recent years, the vast majority of the venture and philanthropic money has gone to outlets located in major urban areas — not to communities “lacking a critical mass of reporters,” according media scholar Nikki Usher, author of “News for the Rich, White and Blue.” Both the Institute for Nonprofit News and LION Publishers: Local Independent Online News — which provide support to hundreds of for-profit and nonprofit news organizations — have developed extensive workshops and material to help legacy and digital operations diversify their revenue streams and craft sustainable business models.

Complicating matters for those who rely on philanthropy for their funding, there is a significant disparity between size of the endowments of community foundations in large metro areas compared to those in small and mid-sized communities - Local News Online. This significantly limits the amount of money that foundations in smaller communities can distribute to worthy causes, such as journalism

Reynolds Charitable Trust, which typically supports projects aimed at improving the health of residents in rural, low-income areas, the site covers not only traditional health news, but also criminal justice, economic development, education and politics — all related to the long-term “health” of communities in the area. Until more philanthropic organizations embrace “horizontal” funding of local news organizations, Picard suggests foundations should “focus on funding statewide news outlets, with a requirement that the reporters for those providers identify and cover the communities where there are critical information gaps, and tackle issues that span multiple communities in a region.” Much thought has been given over the past decade to rethinking the practice of journalism to address internet the critical gaps in the flow of news and information that have emerged.

“The only way we are going to know what is going on in these communities — what is important to people living there — is to have someone in the community - Local News Online. “ As both Picard and Cross suggest, technology only takes the industry so far. Rethinking journalism today is not only about creating new products, but also about revisiting past practices that connected us to one another

All About Local News Online

“It connects people in a community to one another and to the outside world.” Reviving local news is not about reviving print newspapers. Rather it is about reviving the historic function of strong local journalism. At its best, as Cross suggests, local journalism in the 21st century will help us come together to solve our problems and achieve our dreams.

Knight Foundation underscores the essential nature of local journalism. Nearly 85% of Americans say the news media is “critical” or “very important” for providing accurate information and holding the powerful to account. And Americans over at this website who follow local news “very closely” are more than twice as likely to vote in local elections, according to the survey.

The survey demonstrates not only how news organizations should be thinking about best engaging their audiences but also the enormous civic impact of their doing so. The study found that 81% of people who follow local news “very closely” are likely to vote, compared to only 35% of those who do not pay close attention to local news.

The Lab is planning to expand to other neighborhoods soon as well. The Inquirer has also created an Election 2020 Roundtable, which invites Pennsylvania residents to help inform The Inquirer’s election coverage to ensure that its journalists are covering the issues that matter most to residents and providing citizens with information they need to cast informed votes this fall.

Some Known Incorrect Statements About Local News Online

The declining capacity of newsrooms to investigate potential stories not only renders newspapers less valuable to news consumers, but also results in a newspaper that is less valuable to its community. When important stories are not told, community members lack the information they need to participate in the political process and hold government and powerful private actors accountable.

As Americans have shifted away from local news, turnout in state and local elections has fallen, and communities that have lost reporters have seen fewer candidates run for local office.5 But the decline in local journalism is not just a local concern, it is a national one, too. Voters in communities that have experienced a newspaper closure are less likely to split their vote between the two major political parties, contributing to national political polarization.6 And, with local news struggling to survive and compete with national news outlets for consumers’ attention, partisan reporting and coverage of national partisan conflict has come to dominate news consumers’ diets.



Ongoing threats to the commercial viability of local newspapers as well as the development of nonprofit models for local news suggest that the market for local journalism, if left alone, will continue to undersupply local coverage. This is a serious public problem; those who read, listen, and watch the news are not article just consumers, but citizens that rely on news publishers to meet the demands of living in a democracy.

Zenger was found not guilty, largely in part to his attorney Andrew Hamilton, who later wrote a paper in which he argued that newspapers should be free to criticize the government as long as it was true. Later, with the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, freedom of the press would be guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Report this wiki page