Monday 16 January 2023

Strong Local Newspapers Are a Key to Strengthening Our Democracy

What we know with absolute clarity is that a reliable flow of information is crucial to the stability of a democracy. There are plenty of troubling warning signs, more than enough to worry townspeople, journalists, and democracy advocates alike. Yet local newspapers are evolving with new models to suggest that communities across the country still can receive information that has been well-sourced, fact-checked, and revealing about their towns, states, country, and world just as ziare locale 24.

You certainly are aware of how the internet and social media platforms have changed the news business. On the positive side, new technologies have given consumers instant, direct access to innumerable sources of information. On the negative side, consumers have little reason to pay for traditional news reporting if they can get information free off the internet and from social media.

Across the country, though, fewer eyeballs are probing into whether local and state governments are spending our tax dollars wisely. Fewer feature stories are being written about local people innovatively serving their towns. Fewer editorialists are helping shape a city or state’s agenda.

Those functions of a strong news operation are essential to a thriving democracy, where reliable reporting and informed commentary keeps people abreast of the life of their community. The most essential one is that a local source of news helps create a shared culture. 

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