{"id":14455,"date":"2018-12-01T01:40:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T01:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=14455"},"modified":"2018-12-02T01:43:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T01:43:01","slug":"how-local-journalism-can-upend-the-fake-news-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-local-journalism-can-upend-the-fake-news-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"How local journalism can upend the ‘fake news’ narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damian Radcliffe<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time media is the least trusted institution globally,\u201d Edelman, the global PR and marketing firm concluded<\/a> in its annual worldwide study on trust in institutions like the media, business and government.<\/p>\n

These international findings are in line with recent data<\/a> coming out of the U.S. A 2016 Gallup poll reported<\/a> that just 32 percent of Americans trusted the mass media, while an Ipsos poll<\/a> from summer 2018 found that nearly one-third of Americans agreed that the news media is the \u201cenemy of the people.\u201d <\/p>\n

How did it come to this? <\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s important to recognize that our national media<\/a>, just like our politics<\/a>, has become highly partisan. <\/p>\n

Second, it\u2019s necessary to acknowledge that existing media business models fuel this polarization<\/a>. The drumbeat of an us-versus-them narrative has created what Tim Dixon<\/a>, co-author of a new study titled \u201cThe Hidden Tribes of America<\/a>,\u201d calls a \u201ccartoonish view of the other side.\u201d <\/p>\n

So what can be done to remedy this state of affairs?<\/p>\n

Moving forward, I believe that local journalism \u2013 a key focus of my research<\/a> and journalistic background<\/a> \u2013 can play an important role in turning the tide and tackling this media malaise. <\/p>\n

The trust factor<\/h2>\n

Traditionally, the most important function of the Fourth Estate<\/a> has been seen as watchdog reporting \u2013 journalism that holds authority to account. <\/p>\n

But, this type of journalism is not exclusive to larger publications. <\/p>\n

The impact and potential importance of these efforts at a local level can be seen<\/a> each week in the \u201cLocal Matters<\/a>\u201d newsletter founded by the journalists Joey Cranney<\/a>, Alexandra Glorioso<\/a> and Brett Murphy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It was also recognized last year when Art Cullen of The Storm Lake Times won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing<\/a>. The twice-weekly newspaper in Iowa has nine-person staff and covers a town with a population of 10,000. <\/p>\n

Yet Cullen beat fellow finalists from bigger papers – the Houston Chronicle and Washington Post – because he \u201csuccessfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa\u201d in \u201ceditorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research shows<\/a>, however, that audiences don\u2019t just want local news outlets to be watchdogs. They want them to be a \u201cgood neighbor\u201d too. <\/p>\n

Local journalists are often the only journalists that most people will ever meet. So they play a significant role in how the wider profession is perceived.<\/p>\n

For Caitlyn May<\/a>, editor of the Cottage Grove Sentinel<\/a> in Oregon, this means \u201cit\u2019s essential that journalists leave the office and go out into the community.\u201d One way she does this is by holding a monthly, informal, \u201cMeet the Editor\u201d discussion at a local coffee shop.<\/p>\n

Other outlets, such as the Dallas Morning News<\/a> with their Curious Texas<\/a> project, and KUOW Public Radio in Puget Sound, Washington, are partnering with a start-up called Hearken<\/a> to encourage audiences to submit questions they want answered<\/a> or suggest topics that they want local journalists to cover.<\/p>\n

Poynter\u2019s 2018 Media Trust Survey<\/a> identified that trust in local media is considerably higher than for national media. By blending watchdog reporting with community engagement, newsrooms can build on this foundation. <\/p>\n

Local news on shaky ground<\/h2>\n

But what happens when local media disappears?<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sense of community and our trust in democracy at all levels suffer when journalism is lost or diminished,\u201d researchers at the University of North Carolina wrote in a recent report<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn an age of fake news and divisive politics,\u201d they added, \u201cthe fate of communities across the country \u2013 and of grassroots democracy itself \u2013 is linked to the vitality of local journalism.\u201d <\/p>\n

Indeed, data suggests a correlation between consumption of local news and civic engagement<\/a>. This reinforces earlier research<\/a> linking local media consumption and \u201cinstitutionalized participation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Put another way, if you consume local news, you\u2019re more likely to vote, contact local officials and participate in other forms of civic and democratic engagement. <\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Alex Rozier of Mississippi Today speaks to Anthony Edwards about food insecurity in Fayette, Miss. in September 2018.<\/span>
\n Eric J. Shelton for Mississippi Today\/Courtesy of NewsMatch<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although many local newsrooms are going through a period of reinvention and reinvigoration<\/a>, the sector needs to be on a more even financial keel<\/a> if it is to successfully move forward. Outlets have to consistently produce high quality work in order to demonstrate their unique value to communities.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t necessarily easy at a time when their are fewer journalists. Nearly half of all newsroom jobs \u2013 more than 20,000 of them \u2013 have disappeared<\/a> in the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

Recent research has highlighted the potential impact of these cuts at the local level. <\/p>\n

Data produced by Duke University<\/a> found that \u201cless than half of the news provided by local media outlets is original. Only 17 percent is “truly local\u201d in the sense that it\u2019s actually about events that have taken place within the city or town. <\/p>\n

Journalism professor and researcher Jesse Holcomb<\/a> has noted that local news outlets<\/a> are still struggling to adapt to digital. He likens the internet to \u201can ill-fitting suit: functional, but not made for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holcomb\u2019s analysis of 1,808 local news outlets revealed that less than half offer video content or newsletters. About one-in-10 local news outlets don\u2019t even have a website.<\/p>\n

The Expanding News Deserts<\/a> report, published in October by journalism professor Penny Muse Abernathy<\/a>, showed that 171 U.S. counties do not have a local newspaper at all. <\/p>\n

Nearly half all counties in the U.S.\u200a \u2013 \u200a1,449\u200a \u2013 \u200ahave only one newspaper, and it\u2019s usually a weekly. Their research identified<\/a> a net loss of almost 1,800 local newspapers since 2004. <\/p>\n

Diminished resources \u2013 which may, in turn, lead to a less ambitious editorial mission \u2013 can have a profound impact on the health<\/a> of our communities and democracy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/h2>\n

To succeed, local news providers must be relentlessly local<\/a> and offer something different if they want people to pay for their product. <\/p>\n

They also need to be more visible, embracing opportunities for real life engagement and consciously diversifying the range of people they interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to a 2006 study by journalism professors Don Heider, Maxwell McCombs and Paula Poindexter, this means that investigative and watchdog reporting<\/a> should appear alongside stories that demonstrate<\/a> \u201ccaring about your community, highlighting interesting people and groups in the community, understanding the local community, and offering solutions to community problems.\u201d <\/p>\n

That way, local journalists act as a check on those in power<\/a> and create an informed citizenry<\/a>, while also fostering a sense of community<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And local journalists don\u2019t just help communities make sense of the world around them. They\u2019re also a proxy for the wider news industry. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s harder to believe that everything is \u201cfake news\u201d when the journalist you meet at back-to-school night, your kid\u2019s football practice, or in the local coffee shop is not just your neighbor, but someone who is also reporting on important local stories that you know to be true.\"The<\/p>\n

Damian Radcliffe<\/a>, Caroline S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Damian Radcliffe, University of Oregon \u201cFor the first time media is the least trusted institution globally,\u201d Edelman, the global PR and marketing firm concluded in its annual worldwide study on trust in institutions like the media, business and government. These international findings are in line with recent data coming out of the U.S. A 2016 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":14453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[1617,3049,785,2624,1615,5509,789,5508],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14457,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14455\/revisions\/14457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}