The bad news: fewer journalists covering local news

I am reading the news about a Pew Research study which shows that between 2008 and last year, employment in newspaper newsrooms declined by an astonishing 45 percent. The majority of the newspapers in the study are very local/regional newspapers.

It so happens that I have spent my day conducting a workshop here in Vitoria, Brazil, for Rede Gazeta group: a very local/regional newspaper with a great tradition of covering local news, government, schools, of which the team is very proud. In fact, at lunch yesterday our conversation was mostly about how readers of A Gazeta, a newspaper I introduced to color in 1997, treasure the coverage of local politics that the newspaper is known for.

Here, too, many journalists were let go, but the newsroom still maintains good levels of journalists/editors, as compared to American newspapers of similar circulation. When local newspapers cut down on journalists serving their communities, everyone suffers.

So media columnist Margaret Sullivan got it right when she wrote that:

The dire numbers play out in ugly ways: Public officials aren’t held accountable, town budgets go unscrutinized, experienced journalists are working at Walmart, or not at all, instead of plying their much-needed trade in their communities.

One problem with losing local coverage is that we never know what we don’t know. Corruption can flourish, taxes can rise, public officials can indulge their worst impulses.

And there’s another result that gets less attention:

In our terribly divided nation, we need the local newspaper to give us common information — an agreed-upon set of facts to argue about.

For more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-local-news-crisis-is-destroying-what-a-divided-america-desperately-needs-common-ground/2018/08/03/d654d5a8-9711-11e8-810c-5fa705927d54_story.html?utm_campaign=1bdc154d41-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_06_12_18&utm_medium=email&utm_source=API%20Need%20to%20Know%20newsletter&utm_term=.632096995f9f

The good news: Newseum removes the Fake News T-shirt.

Perhaps someone thought it was a cute idea: a Fake News t-shirt. I never thought it was funny. I am tired of dealing with the subject, as when someone who knows I teach journalism asks, usually with a smirk on their face: Are you training a new generation of fake news journalists?

Not funny. So, we don’t need to have the phrase Fake News on a T shirt, sold in a place like the Newseum, a place that exists to celebrate journalism.

So, it is great news to hear that the Newseum announced Saturday that it will no longer sell “Fake News” items on its website or in its gift shop, including the T shirt below.

Thanks to Poynter.org for publishing a story in which journalists decried the practice and slogan . See the full release here.