Family or independently owned newspapers don’t just deliver local news, they shine a spotlight on the rural communities they cover.
They ensure faces are seen – and, most importantly – voices are heard.
Without them, what will people learn about your hometown? Who will write about your school’s budgetary needs? How will city officials be held accountable? Will anyone interview candidates for public office to understand their views? And who will step up to promote your local veterans’ organizations fundraising events?
When the Bill of Rights was drafted more than two centuries ago, the founding fathers incorporated their belief that local journalism was a crucial component for a strong democracy. In fact, they felt newspapers were so important, they facilitated the creation of a strong delivery network by providing papers with subsidized postal rates.[1]
In the decades that followed, historians unofficially labeled this democratic role of the press as America’s fourth branch of government – using the power of the pen to educate and inform citizens, provide an accessible forum for debate and act as a watchdog to keep government and public institutions accountable.
But in the last 15 years, newspapers’ role in our nation’s democracy has been severely diminished and is in danger of being lost altogether in small communities across the nation – including Western Iowa.
Between 2004 and 2019, a total of 2,100 papers across the country – all but 70 of which were weeklies – shut down. This substantial loss of community newspapers left almost half of the counties in the country with just one newspaper – usually a weekly. Furthermore, in 2019 a total of 171 counties in the country did not have a paper at all.3 These “news deserts” have been created because community newspapers are facing a catastrophic budgetary crisis due to dwindling subscriptions and significantly reduced advertising revenue.
In 2018, newspaper circulation in the United States fell to its lowest level since 1940,[2] even though the total number of households is three times larger[3] than it was back then. On top of that, the exponential rise of social media and digital marketing has significantly lured away both paid subscribers and print advertising dollars.
Because advertising revenue has traditionally accounted for 80% of a newspaper’s budget,[4] the monumental decline has caused many publications to either reduce the number of issues printed each week, cut staff or fold operations altogether. A recent study from the Pew Research Center confirms that newspaper employees dropped by 51% between 2008-2019, from 71,000 to just 35,000 workers.[5]
Newspapers operating with smaller staffs are no longer able to provide a depth or breadth of coverage – therefore impacting the industry’s ability to continue its “watchdog” status. This means limited opportunity for enterprise or in-depth features on local issues, minimal investigations on accountability of local spending or failure to question school district oversight, and much more.
Community Journalism was facing substantial challenges prior to COVID-19. The global pandemic has magnified the crisis within the industry even more.
The Western Iowa Journalism Foundation needs your help to create a sustainable solution that ensures the important role community journalism plays in our democracy can continue.
[1] Waldman, Steven, and the Working Group on Information Needs of Communities. The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age. Federal Communications Commission report, 2011.
[2] Grieco, Elizabeth. Fast facts about the newspaper industry’s financial struggles as McClatchy files for bankruptcy (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/14/fast-facts-about-the-newspaper-industrys-financial-struggles/) February 14, 2020.
[3] Waldman, Steven, and the Working Group on Information Needs of Communities. The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age. Federal Communications Commission report, 2011.
[4] Picard, R. G. (2004). Commercialism and newspaper quality. Newspaper Research Journal, 25(1), 54–65.
[5] Grieco, Elizabeth. U.S. Newspapers have Shed Half of Their Newsroom Employees Since 2008. Pew Research Center (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/20/u-s-newsroom-employment-has-dropped-by-a-quarter-since-2008/). April 20, 2020.