read in Harper's Review this week that roughly 25% of US newspaper have shuttered since 2005 and that, of those remaining, investment firms own half. most investment firms focus on increasing "cost efficiencies" at the papers they own, which generally means cutting local staff and using more materials from wire services. Also the research I have read indicates that communities without a local newspaper have higher taxes and lower voter turnouts, since most local residents do not pay close attention to the activities of city government and are not nearly as engaged as communities with a newspaper.
In addition, local papers are the primary source for coverage of local high school and colligate sports. Local radio and tv stations only devote a few minutes of time to local sports, which papers devote dozens of column inches to the topic and the sports section is generally the most avidly read section of the paper.
The online edition of The Southern does represent a "wire service" with irrelevant news items and trivia as its main features. It is highly likely that of taxes rise and lower voter turnouts result it will be the result of more people leaving this area than anything else.
ReplyDeleteMaybe so. I have seen studies indicating that both happen when a local paper shuts down though. Having one shutter does not bode well for the community.
ReplyDelete