Rural areas are rapidly becoming news deserts

[steven36]

A new study released Monday by the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism details the stark decline of newspapers in the U.S. and particularly in rural areas, where citizens are less educated, poorer and older.

 

 

Data: UNC School of Media and Journalism; Note: Investment firms include New Media/GateHouse, Digital First Media, CNHI, Civitas, tronc/Tribune, BH Media, 10/13 Communications;

 

Why it matters: Because of the isolated nature of communities in which many papers have dissolved, "there is little to fill the void when the paper closes."

 

Between the lines: The report shows that the collapse of the newspaper industry, beginning around 2004, has been getting worse.

• According to the study, newspaper sales and closures/mergers via the seven largest newspaper investment owners have increased over the past five years.
• Major newspaper holding companies often aren't incentivized to invest for future growth opportunities, but rather to flip the papers to be profitable in the short-term, largely by cutting back on staff and resources.

By the numbers:

• The largest 25 newspaper chains own a third of all newspapers, including two-thirds of the country’s 1,200 dailies.
• There's been net loss since 2004 of almost 1,800 local newspapers. About 70% (1,300 papers) that closed or merged were in metro areas (suburbs).
• Between 1,300 and 1,400 communities that had newspapers of their own in 2004 now have no dedicated news coverage.
• Today, almost 200 counties (of the 3,143 total counties in the U.S.) have no newspaper.

Last year I caught up with Penny Abernathy, the report's author, who has been studying the economic decline of newspapers for years and asked her about the importance of newspapers in society. One quote that stuck out:

“A good newspaper shows you how you’re related to people you didn’t know you were related to. It gets you back to your sense of place."

 

Source

[lurch234]

12 minutes ago, steven36 said:

there is little to fill the void when the paper closes

 

Well, there's still the AM radio stations.

[steven36]

5 minutes ago, lurch234 said:

 

Well, there's still the AM radio stations.

yes if you even have a radio  i have one i use only when the power goes out with computers who needs them? internet streaming is killing radio just like news online is killing newspapers they say with in like 10 years radios will be dead too.

 

Radio Is Dead In 10 Years. This Study Proves It.

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/08/31/radio-dead-musonomics-study/

[K7108]

I dont watch the "news" any longer. I am mentally happier without it. If the world is going to blow up I dont wanna know about it.  

[lurch234]

18 minutes ago, steven36 said:

Radio Is Dead In 10 Years. This Study Proves It.

 

I took the time to read that study. It does look compelling in justifying it's title. But this little snippet I found is also interesting. Maybe AM radio won't die yet

 

https://www.quora.com/Who-listens-to-AM-radio

[steven36]

9 minutes ago, lurch234 said:

 

I took the time to read that study. It does look compelling in justifying it's title. But this little snippet I found is also interesting. Maybe AM radio won't die yet

AM radio has been dead to me since i was like 11 or 12 , it's something my grandma use to listen too a lot in the mornings ,  back in the 1980s we actually had local news in rural areas on cable TV,  now cord killers are killing cable as well , now i live so far out in the sticks  id be lucky to get a AM station near by to pick up , cell phones dont even work good here and there is no local cable only satellite. The newspaper in my area only comes out once a week anyway  its always been like that.

[lurch234]

8 minutes ago, steven36 said:

id be lucky to get a AM station near by to pick up

 

In the '80s I worked at a summer camp in some mountains near Quebec city Canada. I remember being able, late at night, to tune in to some AM radio stations from New York.

That's almost a 9 hr drives distance!

[dhjohns]

8 minutes ago, lurch234 said:

 

In the '80s I worked at a summer camp in some mountains near Quebec city Canada. I remember being able, late at night, to tune in to some AM radio stations from New York.

That's almost a 9 hr drives distance!

It is called skip.

[steven36]

37 minutes ago, lurch234 said:

 

In the '80s I worked at a summer camp in some mountains near Quebec city Canada. I remember being able, late at night, to tune in to some AM radio stations from New York.

That's almost a 9 hr drives distance!

Yes one time i moved away up north away from my friends  in the late 80's and i use listen to talk radio on AM out of  PA  but soon I came back home  , Here , Arcades ,  cursing,  FM radio  and cassettes were the  thing . I use to carry a little boom box  to work at the plant and listen to cassettes.   I took spells of listening to the news. From end of the 80s to like 2014 i didn't hardly keep up with the news other than local news that use be on cable . I use to drink, party and just hang out for a lot of years when I  1st came on the internet i hung out in chat rooms and they were not about the news and back when you knew me on appznet i didn't keep up with the news then ,  if you noticed i hardly ever posted out of software back then.  i could post you a crack and tell you how to get any app for free but i didn't know what happen on the news that day lol.

 

Some events like 9-11 and when Princess Diana died   bothered me enough that  i watched  the news ..What i remember of it back in late 80s  they was showing War on TV on the news.  i  was scared they was going to draft me so i didn't want to watch that. CNN showed Desert Storm live on TV  . You live in Canada were when my country  had it's last draft  in the late 60s early 70s  many young people moved to your country from the USA  to doge the draft .  But  now you need a passport to cross so it want be so easy for young adults if  it ever happens again . I use to live very close to the border for a bit to cold up there for me lol.