The number of local news outlets around the country has declined rapidly and significantly over the past several decades. One recent report determined that “over the past 15 years, the United States has lost 2,100 newspapers, leaving at least 1,800 communities that had a local news outlet in 2004 without any at the beginning of 2020,” writes the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon.
Research by the American Journalism Project shows that the loss of local news is having an insidious effect on our democracy, contributing to polarization, decrease in voting and government accountability. Local news is an essential lever to a healthy democracy; it helps communities understand what’s at stake in local elections, equips them to get involved in the political process by voting, contacting officials and running for office, reduces political polarization and holds public officials accountable.
A report, “Assessing Oregon’s Local News & Information Ecosystem 2022” found “The importance of news to community civic health may not seem obvious at a time when so many Americans say they don’t trust the media. Echoing findings by other surveys, a recent Gallup poll found Americans’ confidence in news at historic lows. Research suggests, however, that attitudes toward local news are more positive. A recent study by the Knight Foundation, for example, found that Americans tend to trust local news more than national news, and that, ‘compared with other sources of local information, Americans say local news does the best job of keeping them informed, holding leaders accountable and amplifying stories in their communities.”
Here at The Hardwick Gazette we work hard to be accurate, fair and to earn your trust. Part of that is creating meaningful communication between The Gazette and our community. We don’t always get it right, but we will always want to hear from readers and advertisers about things we don’t get right, or perspectives we missed. We want our first thought when you contact us to be appreciation that you are reading the paper we work so hard to produce. Next we will work to understand your perspective and create an appropriate response. Our “For the Record” that appears in our editorial section takes those responses and notes them for posterity. On the website we make the corrections as quickly as possible, adding an editor’s note at the end to make note of what has occurred.
The complete PDF issue dated each Wednesday is a permanent record and is almost never altered after it is published.
Keeping our little spot of local Vermont news alive is a labor of love for all of us, but love isn’t enough. It takes real cash to keep this enterprise going.
Our Giving Tuesday fundraising campaign has resulted in over $5,000 of support toward today’s goal of $20,000. While not reaching what all of the board felt was an incredibly ambitious goal, it’s a fine start and gives us encouragement that our readers see the value in what we do and will offer the support we need.
In this first year as a nonprofit we’ve proven we can offer what our communities need. While there will always be more to do in that regard, in the next months we’ll be expanding our efforts and making our pitch for support to philanthropists and foundations.
More and more foundations are being funded to support the kind of work we do. Some government funding is becoming available as well, though even some journalists are leery of the strings that might come attached to that.
“Ultimately, the stakes for local journalism are high. If the current bipartisan efforts to assist local news become defined along party lines and fail, future generations may not be able to depend on local news as we know it, and if our research is any indication, America’s political divides will continue to deepen as a result,” wrote Joshua Darr, associate dean for Research & Strategic Initiatives in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University.
We hope we continue to earn your trust and ask that you hold us to it as we hold local institutions to it for you.
Paul Fixx, editor
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
