State of Local Journalism

How can the local newsroom be saved before it becomes completely extinct?

Due to the variety of other news options, people rely less on what their local newsroom can provide them. Some might see this as a replacement of local news, but what people don’t see is the news reporting that gets missed when the it’s not from a local source. Only the people who live in your community will know what is happening in that community.

Journalists do their jobs for the people to be informed and know what is happening around them. In a democracy, we play a vital role in keeping people accountable to their actions. If no one is there to do this, than head officials could get away with treating people unethically.

Just as keeping people accountable on the national level is important, so is keeping local officials accountable. As seen in the article in the New York Times, Will Wright, a reporter in Kentucky, was able to expose a serious issue with the drinking water for an area. Immediately, there was a response by the public, for the lack of effort given by officials was exposed and accounted for. Wright was able to advocate for the community by just reporting the facts and truth of the poor water situation.

Many people want to skip over the local news beat because they do not value the information, but communities need good communication in order to function properly and providing local journalism gives the community that communication.

I think the system given by the authors to better local news has a good foundation behind it. In order for local news to become relevant, people must start the valuing the point of local news.