The media serves as the fourth pillar of our democracy. Our checks and balances system wouldn’t be complete without the watchdog role that the news media provides. The media is how the people can have access to the government, how they can ensure that their interests are represented, and how they can hold elected officials accountable. And this includes our local news—without which democracy could crumble.
For centuries, local news media has been the backbone of our civic lives. Their coverage exposes the public to information about issues concerning their neighborhoods, such as healthcare, education, public safety, jobs, transportation, politics, and the environment.
The coverage that local media provides can nurture and promote a sense of community among us. By being more informed, people may be able to better understand and empathize with each other. And local coverage can highlight nearby events to attend and suggest ways for people to become more civically engaged.
Yet, it is undeniable that our local journalism is dying.
In 2021, the League of Women Voters of Washington produced a major report about the decline of local news in Washington. Committee members interviewed over 50 individuals, reviewed over 500 documents, and tracked circulation, staffing trends, as well as readership within the state. The goal of this report was to call attention to this significant issue.
According to the study, between 2005 and 2020, one quarter of the nation’s newspapers closed, leaving 1,800 communities with no local news outlet. Washington alone has lost more than two dozen weeklies and three dailies out of the 140 that existed in 2004. Moreover, staffing declines in our state are greater than the national average, with a 67% reduction in Washington’s newsrooms.
“The lack of coverage means many people don’t understand the workings of government or how to interact with government agencies,” said Senator Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines) in an interview with the study committee. Consequently, there has been little to no oversight on city councils, county councils, school boards, law enforcement agencies, and other local institutions—harming voters’ ability to make informed decisions that affect their communities. This might explain why Washington recorded its lowest ever voter turnout rate in the 2023 general election, with only 36.4% of registered voters casted their ballots.
Odd-year elections mostly focus on local races and issues. Brier Dudley, a columnist at The Seattle Times, shared with the study committee a connection he drew between voter turnout and declining newspaper staffing and coverage. This low rate can be attributed to people being unfamiliar with local issues because of the lack of local news coverage. It is also correlated with a higher likelihood to consume television news, which features more national political coverage.
The decline also means greater political partisanship. Benjamin Shors, Associate Professor at Washington State University, shared with the study committee that “national coverage is conflict-driven, while local news is more community-driven.” The same holds true for University of Washington Professor Jacob Grumbach, who told the study committee that “it’s all symbolics and not real policy.”
With the rise of technological innovations, people today rarely sip their morning coffee with a printed newspaper in their hands; many of us prefer to take a quick glance about current affairs using the internet or social media instead. In fact, in 2021, Pew Research Center reported more than 80% of Americans surveyed got their news from smartphone, computer, or tablet “often” or “sometimes.”
“Washington newspapers are suffering because their funding models collapsed in the wake of the expansion and popularity of the internet and Big Tech,” the League’s study said.
“As a former journalist and journalism educator, I was disheartened to watch local journalism struggle across the country and in our state,” said Dr. Joanne Lisosky, Professor Emerita at Pacific Lutheran University. “I have a personal interest in this decline because I have learned some of my best journalism students are finding it difficult to acquire meaningful work in journalism in their own communities. They recognize how rewarding and worthwhile the work of local journalism is, but the jobs keep slipping away.”
The upsurge of the internet and social media has accelerated the rise of “citizen journalism” in the forms of online news sites, blogs, and social media posts, representing the modern media environment. Dr. Lisosky added, “This loss of local reporting has not only resulted in a lack of local news information but a flood of dis- and misinformation about important issues during this election time.”
Social media certainly carries some advantages. Not only does it give the public greater access to share and promote information, but it also serves as an effective medium for people to collectively gather and organize social or political movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter, MeToo, Arab Spring, etc.).
However, information on social media platforms doesn’t undergo a systematic verification process, which “traditional” journalism does. The lack of fact-checking in citizen journalism helps exacerbate the circulation of mis- and disinformation on the internet.
“As accurate and unbiased as they may be, Twitter reports by well-intentioned individuals […] don’t necessarily face the same scrutiny for objectivity and completeness as local newspaper reports that are assigned and reviewed by an editor,” according to the report.
A research study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that on average, false news on Twitter is about 70% more likely to spread than information that faithfully reports actual events. For example, false information during the recent pandemic generated resistance to many public health measures, including masking and vaccinations, due to the public’s loss of trust in the government and healthcare professionals.
“Mis- and disinformation have been detrimental to the [public health] field. The COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted this,” said Megan Moore, Executive Director of the Washington State Public Health Association. “During the pandemic, viral [false] messages really caused a lot of harm; our local health officers and leadership had death threats thrown their way. It truly made public health employees feel unsafe going into work.”
Some efforts to restore local news are already underway. Washington Senator Maria Cantwell and Rep. Dan Newhouse, for instance, have proposed the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which would offer tax credits to local readers, advertisers, and news producers. Other federal bills to support local media have also been introduced, such as the Future of Local News Act and Saving the Local News Act—though none have been approved yet.
Some “Big Tech” actors have also contributed to this support. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have helped promote local news with grants, training, and fundraising. Greg Halling, editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic, told the study committee that Microsoft’s Journalism Initiative enabled the paper to provide high-quality and impactful coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people.
The decline of local journalism in our state and nationwide is detrimental and threatens our democracy. Local news coverage introduces people to their neighbors and their larger communities; without it, that connection falls away. And it has been the vision and mission of the Project for Civic Health to help strengthen and preserve democratic values in Washington.
To learn more about other effects of this decline in our democracy, including on public finance, public health, and civic engagement; what caused the decline; and efforts to improve the current media environment like community partnerships and policy changes, please read the League of Women Voters’ 2023 report here.