A new project by the Washington State University is the mapping of the state's local news landscape. Researchers try to find out what challenges the community's newsrooms experience. They also work on identifying potential solutions.
“There is definitely a local news crisis in the USA,” said Jennifer Henrichsen, assistant professor for the Edward R. Murrow College for Communication from WSU and the research director of the Washington Local News Ecosystem project. “We have to understand what happens in our state.”
According to a Medill State of Local News Report from autumn, over 3,200 from US -Print newspapers that existed in 2005 have already disappeared because the news agencies are more prompted with fewer employees and smaller budgets.
The researchers created an interactive map of news outlets from City and Medium, including radio, television, newspapers and magazines.
Despite a generous definition of what makes a news agency, Henrichsen said of more than 1,000 sources in the entire state, only 353 fulfilled the criteria.
“The outlet had to have articles that were published regularly, had to orientate itself to a local audience in Washington News and had to meet journalists -content criteria,” said Henrichsen.
Difficulties for local news: The challenges
The image painted by the data shows significant challenges for small news editorial actions and reporters who work for you.
Part of the report includes interviews with people who work in the journalism industry.
“What we have found from the respondents include the fact that wages do not keep up with the cost of living,” said Henrichsen. “Journalists who may want to live in a certain place because they cannot afford there, they cannot afford it.”
According to the report, the ability to hire and maintain journalists has an impact, and there are other growing problems with the pipeline of reporters for the newsrooms, said Pawel Popiel, assistant professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, who was working on the project.
“Almost half of all news agencies have a budget of less than 250,000 US dollars a year, which is the lowest budget in our data set,” said Popiel.
Many of the local news agencies in Washington are faced with household restrictions, not only to maintain the newsroom, but also to pay journalists, which is a problem, he said.
The researchers also started collecting personnel information for the report. It is still an ongoing process, but Popiel said that the preliminary personal data show that many news editorial offices are dependent on the need for part -time work because they cannot afford full -time employees.
News of Deserts, which are defined as places where there are no local news sources, also continue to grow, said Henrichsen.
“We know that the critical information needs of the communities in education, politics, civil life when local news agencies shrink or disappear, those who are not filled,” she said.
Without access to local news, state and political participation, polarization increases, and the communities lose cohesion and identity, said Henrichsen.
“All of these factors are harmful to both bourgeois life and democratic society,” she said.
People then turn to social media for their news, said Henrichsen, which often exists before disinformation and content to deceive people, she said.
Another concern is fast pop-up websites that seem to be news sources.
These websites with the nickname “Pink Slime” are usually presented as news agencies despite their content of partisans. According to the report, low media literacy rates in the population also contribute to the permanent flow of misinformation.
“It's pretty easy to create a website and say:” Ta-da, I'm a news agency. “You can do this in a few minutes now,” said Brier Dudley, an opinion columnist for the Seattle Times, who wrote an OP-ED in the WSU report.
Since research is ongoing for the project, Dudley said that it would be valuable for researchers to examine the various options for how people find news.
“An essential amount of” news “owners in the state of Washington actually does not meet any fundamental news criteria,” said Henrichsen.
If people are looking for news, they expect it to be free of charge on social media, like other content, she said.
What society can do: the solutions
According to the report, the subscription news model has worked for some news editorial offices in the middle of the loss of traditional advertising revenue, and direct donations also help to finance local messages.
Further investments in local journalism training programs to strengthen the pipeline of Journalism workforce are another solution, said Henrichsen and collaborative journalism initiatives throughout the state.
Students of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication from WSU in a control room. (Credit: Matt Loveless)
Media competence programs could also help, she said.
“We need more citizens who are aware of what makes good and important factual information to ensure that citizens are able to get involved in a citizen life and democracy,” said Henrichsen.
More support for research to understand the driving force behind the journalism crisis and opportunities to make local news industry more resistant are also solution-oriented goals, said Popiel.
A solution for political decision -makers in Washington is the support of the financing of local journalism by taxing large technology companies, he said.
National news agencies such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have managed to pull money from Tech giant, said Dudley.
“Google and Facebook know that they benefit from the production of these companies, so they basically pay to licens the material,” he said. “You get a kind of what you would consider as a master subscription to use this message content.”
This can be a challenge for smaller, local and independent news organizations without the same legal resources, said Dudley.
Although it was not adopted, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act from 2023 would enable smaller companies to negotiate with online companies that use their content on their platforms. If smaller news organizations can negotiate together, you will receive a better offer, said Dudley.
“We still have to invest in journalism,” said Popiel. “We know that journalism plays an important role in the information of communities and a richer citizens' life in the state of Washington, and we have to continue.”