Local news is the backbone of how we stay informed about issues and events that directly impact us, and it’s the glue that makes a town or city a real community.
By Linda Stamato
The quote appears on the News Literacy Project’s website, which is co-sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Company.
In this, the Project’s fifth year, the News Literacy Project is exploring the crisis in local news coverage and efforts to keep it alive. It is showcasing industry professionals, journalism students, educators and others tackling the crisis in local journalism as they try to develop workable solutions.
The challenge is formidable.
In the last 20 years, more than 2,000 local newspapers have closed, leaving far too many people poorly informed as they lack access to a newspaper, in print or online.
And journalists are being attacked, even physically assaulted by those who prefer to act out of sight, hiding their skullduggery and outright corruption. Examples making national news have taken place in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nevada, the latter involving the killing of a respected journalist for reporting on an elected official.
Here in Morristown, the editor of Morristown Green has been dismissed as a “blogger,” as if the publication, with its frank and thorough reporting of town council and board and commission meetings, doesn’t count as a vital news source because it doesn’t appear in print.
Seriously? How about judging by the quality of the content, not by the medium in which it appears.
Now is the appropriate time—and Morristown Green is the ideal context—to think about local news, literacy and community, as the nation celebrates National Literacy Week. It’s time to reflect on news literacy, and the importance of local news in a healthy democracy.
It’s clear that efforts to silence journalists are ramping up. Why? Journalists are feared. Often, they have to be fearless.
NEWSPAPERS: VITAL TO DEMOCRACY
There is no substitute for journalism — independent news in one form or another — in a functioning democracy. Without it, corruption will become endemic. Vested interests will capture legislation and limit regulation. And fewer people will bother to vote, as trust in government recedes.
Citizens need information. When newspapers are available to provide it, studies suggest, people are more likely to vote, and to vote wisely.
Just this week, 10 members of the California delegation in Congress sent a letter to L.A. Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and the L.A. Times Guild, expressing concern over the scope of proposed layoffs at the paper. The lawmakers urged all parties to negotiate in good faith to “avoid a drastic measure.”
According to the delegation, the newspaper is an “irreplaceable source” for their constituents. Writing “as members of Congress representing constituents who rely on the invaluable reporting provided by the Los Angeles Times,” they emphasized how vital the “availability of essential news” is to “the strength of our democracy at large.”
The PBS Hour has been investing a solid effort in raising awareness of the value of local news and building support for it as well.
Journalist and political commentator Bill Moyers confirms the point: “We tend to stand up straighter and behave better when we know someone’s watching.”
Can it be a surprise when the first act of an autocrat is to silence the media?
In a recent PBS News Hour that covered local news, the curator of the Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Ann Marie Lipinski, spoke of the impact on communities when newspapers close, citing data on corruption, increased pollution, equal opportunity violations, and more.
Yes, jobs are lost. But Lipinski said the real cost is borne by communities. They need to support their local press.
THE NEXT GENERATION: MAKING NEWS ACCESSIBLE AND ATTRACTIVE TO STUDENTS
A parallel effort is investing in news literacy for students. Selective online outlets, such as TikTok, may be the only sources students turn to for news.
Policymakers finally are beginning to recognize the value of helping students learn to navigate the complex and often confusing media environment.
It is gratifying to see this work appearing on the website Governing, making clear the connection between effective news coverage and governance.
PRESERVING A FREE PRESS
Funding is a critical piece of the picture. Newspapers can’t lobby or take legislators out to dinner or entertain them. Nor can they receive tax breaks, anti-trust relief or federal bailout funds. The public would not want any of these “benefits.” Not if we want to ensure a truly independent press.
Advertising, once a sustaining source, has declined sharply. Legal notices provide vital, but limited, funding. Subscriptions are essential.
Thankfully, philanthropic interest in local news has become more serious. Most significant, in terms of resources, is the Press Forward initiative by key foundations and individuals, 22 so far, pledging $500 million to address the crisis in local news.
New Jersey is fortunate to have the state-funded NJ Civic Information Consortium. Since its creation in 2018, this ground-breaking nonprofit consortium has awarded $5.5 million in grants to 81 organizations, including Morristown Green, to benefit our state’s civic life and address the information needs of communities in all 21 counties.
It’s not a huge amount, but it does help, and its existence makes the point that having access to local news is essential for communities to thrive.
A national effort along similar lines—The Local Journalism Sustainability Act — has been proposed but has not received the approval of Congress. This bill, H.R.3940, would give tax credits to individuals and businesses that support local media.
Individuals would be able to claim an income tax credit of up to $250 for a local newspaper subscription. The bill also would give payroll tax credits to local newspapers for wages paid to journalists. Certain small businesses also could claim tax credits for advertising in local media.
Federal support through this kind of mechanism is no threat to editorial independence.
NEW JERSEY’S SLIDE
The urgent national need to protect, preserve and enhance our free and independent press is acute in New Jersey, too.
Fortunately, the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University is helping advance local news by facilitating connections and promoting collaboration. The annual report on its important work is here.
Employment in the national newspaper publishing industry shrank by nearly 60 percent between 1990 and 2016, declining from roughly 458,000 jobs to 183,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employees in newsrooms declined 57 percent between 2008 and 2020, reports Pew Research.
In New Jersey, a state without a major network television station, the decline has been dramatic. Since 2004, 75 weekly newspapers in New Jersey shut down, along with three daily papers.
That means we — citizens, readers of newspapers, in print and online — are in crisis as well.
We have our work cut out for us.
We have to recognize the crucial work newspapers do for the public interest — holding public officials to account, laying bare the plans of leaders and contenders — and recognize the profound challenge newspapers are facing.
We need to play an active role in their rescue. We need to subscribe. We need to provide additional support. Our democracy depends upon it.
Linda Stamato is treasurer of the nonprofit Corporation for New Jersey Local Media. She also serves as a commissioner on the Morristown Parking Authority, and a trustee of the Morristown and Morris Township Library Foundation. And she is Co-Director of the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, where she is a Faculty Fellow.
Opinions expressed in commentaries are the authors’, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
