Local News & Information
We asked 5,000 people across the country what they want from local news. Here’s what we learned. - American Journalism Project
theajp.orgAmericans no longer have an accurate sense of their own society. For example, a few years ago, a poll showed that Americans, on average, think Muslims are seventeen times as large a portion of the U.S. population as they actually are. Another poll showed that most Americans think a majority of immigrants are in the country illegally (in fact, 77%... See more

1/This study suggests that global use of social media over time leads to global sorting into just two primary camps, or worldviews. If their hypothesis is correct, it has profound implications for the world in the coming years.
h/t @jonathanstray
https://t.co/sPbQufHfSG https://t.co/DgFukvxvh5
Simon Galperin
The contract isn’t coming apart because people can’t access journalism, but because they increasingly don’t. People still want reliable, relevant information from sources independent of those in power in business and government. In fact, mountains of research suggest that people appreciate the ideal aspirations of journalism, and want news that... See more
James Madison — a.k.a. Guy Who Wrote the First Amendment — argued that newspapers should have a massive subsidy from the federal government to encourage the distribution of newspapers. The “postal subsidy,” which provided discounted mail, would be about $46 billion in today’s dollars — bigger than the NASA budget.
Steven Waldman • How high school sports coverage can save democracy - Poynter
At the same time, local journalism is not always a pure civic good. It has historically excluded, demonized, and marginalized communities of color, poorer neighborhoods, and immigrant populations (Bedingfield and Forde, 2021). Local media often chases subscribers in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods while applying “if it bleeds it leads” logic in its... See more