{"id":97338,"date":"2025-11-07T16:22:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=97338"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:07:03","slug":"two-items-for-those-who-like-to-pulsecheck-whats-up-with-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2025\/11\/07\/two-items-for-those-who-like-to-pulsecheck-whats-up-with-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Two items for those who like to pulsecheck what’s up with journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

News deserts hit new high and 50 million have limited access to local news, study finds<\/strong><\/a> — from medill.northwestern.edu
\nFederal funding cuts to public broadcasting may accelerate local news crisis<\/em><\/p>\n

EVANSTON, ILL. — The number of local news deserts in the U.S. jumped to record levels this year as newspaper closures continued unabated, and funding cuts to public radio could worsen the problem in coming months, according to the\u00a0Medill State of Local News Report 2025\u00a0released today.<\/p>\n

While the local news crisis deepened overall, Medill researchers found cause for optimism \u2014 more than 300 local news startups have launched over the past five years, 80% of which were digital-only outlets.<\/p>\n

For the fourth consecutive year, the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University\u2019s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications conducted a months-long, county-by-county survey of local news organizations to identify trends in the rapidly morphing local media landscape. Researchers looked at local newspapers, digital-only sites, ethnic media and public broadcasters.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

How Local Newsrooms Are Rethinking Political Coverage<\/strong><\/a> — from adigaskell.org<\/p>\n

For decades, election reporting in the U.S. has leaned heavily on the \u201chorse race\u201d\u2014who\u2019s up, who\u2019s down, and who\u2019s raising the most money. But new\u00a0research\u00a0from the University of Kansas suggests that this approach is starting to shift, thanks to a national training program aimed at helping journalists better engage with their communities.<\/p>\n

The program, called\u00a0Democracy SOS, encourages reporters to move beyond headline polls and campaign drama. Instead, it asks them to focus on the issues people care about and explain how those issues are being tackled. In other words: less spectacle, more substance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Addendum on 11\/13\/25:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Why Losing Local Newspapers Costs More Than We Think<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0— from adigaskell.org<\/p>\n

So why can\u2019t digital journalism fill the gap?
\n<\/strong>The researchers argue that online media isn\u2019t a true replacement for local reporting. \u201cIf you\u2019re in New York writing about San Francisco, you just don\u2019t know the area,\u201d they say. \u201cYou don\u2019t have the context. You\u2019re not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even local online reporters face pressure to chase clicks. \u201cEvery journalist now has a global audience,\u201d they explain. \u201cThat means the stories that matter most\u2014ones that require digging, patience, and a deep knowledge of the community\u2014often get ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

The takeaway: local newspapers may seem like an old-fashioned idea, but they play a key role in how communities function. And when they vanish, the costs go beyond the news.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News deserts hit new high and 50 million have limited access to local news, study finds — from medill.northwestern.edu Federal funding cuts to public broadcasting may accelerate local news crisis EVANSTON, ILL. — The number of local news deserts in the U.S. jumped to record levels this year as newspaper closures continued unabated, and funding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[433,211,25,285,321,214,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communications","category-funding-grants","category-journalism","category-legislation-legislatures","category-united-states","category-universities","category-englishwriting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97338"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97423,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97338\/revisions\/97423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}