tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/shrinking-newsrooms-51603/articlesShrinking newsrooms – The Conversation2022-02-02T14:36:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1756482022-02-02T14:36:53Z2022-02-02T14:36:53ZSaving journalism: views on how to pay for reliable information<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442891/original/file-20220127-24-97s3jf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Newsrooms in Africa are struggling to stay afloat amid declining revenue margins</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fredrick Omondi/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Journalism globally faces a <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-calls-global-support-independent-journalism-amid-funding-crisis-media">sustainability crisis</a>. It largely <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-calls-global-support-independent-journalism-amid-funding-crisis-media">stems from</a> declining advertising revenue, loss of revenue to technology giants, control of news media by political actors and individuals with business interests, disinformation and dwindling public trust.</p>
<p>Twisting the knife in the wound, the financial pressure on media organisations has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href="https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2021/here-are-the-newsroom-layoffs-furloughs-and-closures-caused-by-the-coronavirus/">In the US</a>, for example, at least 21 local newspapers merged and about 1,400 newsroom staffers lost their jobs. <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/africas-media-hit-hard-by-covid-19-crisis/a-53427253">African journalism</a> also felt the economic impact.</p>
<p>Without journalism, the foundations on which democratic societies operate will be weaker. Public and private institutions and their actors will be less accountable in their use of power.</p>
<p>A year ago, a team of researchers at Columbia University published a <a href="https://www.kas.de/documents/283221/283270/KAS_Saving+Journalism.pdf/8ee31596-7166-30b4-551f-c442686f91ae?version=1.4&t=1611338643015">report</a> assessing interventions and new initiatives to sustain journalism. Now this team, including myself, has gone back to assess the <a href="https://www.kas.de/documents/283221/283270/Saving+Journalism+2+-+Global+Strategies+and+a+Look+at+Investigative+Journalism.pdf/a8ec2655-5636-8d69-00e5-e698e76c3845?version=1.0&t=1642517860288">status of the promising measures we documented</a>. We’ve also looked at worldwide strategies that show promise in stemming declines in revenue of media outlets and loss of journalism jobs.</p>
<p>Many countries are experimenting with different forms of government support and policies but the question is what works best and is sustainable in each context.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We interviewed 60 respondents: economists, policy makers, journalists, editors, academics, and media development workers from Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Africa.</p>
<p>In our earlier report, we found that there was a big appetite for sweeping changes in the business of journalism. Several funding organisations we spoke to in 2021 had made significant progress in 2020 with their support for quality journalism. Some had increased the amount of funding; others had extended funding to more media outlets. </p>
<p>Globally, there is experimentation with different forms of government support and policies. Indonesia gave a series of tax credits to local media. Australia’s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021A00021">News Media Bargaining Code</a> channelled hundreds of millions of dollars from Google and Facebook to different journalism outlets.</p>
<p>The people we interviewed for our latest report agree these interventions are necessary, though they believe that there is no perfect fix for saving journalism. The economists take the pragmatic view that in the absence of detailed data showing what is the most effective, interventions are worth pursuing as long as they are not harmful and can garner support.</p>
<p>We found more divided opinions in the journalism community. Some felt governmental support for journalism was crucial. However, when compared to niche players or digital startups, the larger, established outlets benefit more from many government programmes. So the bigger outlets are more in favour of government intervention.</p>
<p>Smaller outlets, particularly in Africa and Latin America, had genuine apprehensions about governmental support. Some felt that government subsidies and tax breaks wouldn’t help small outlets. Others expressed concerns about the potential influence of government on media reportage. </p>
<p>Yet they were open to accepting money from large foundations, foreign governments and tech giants. Some sub-Saharan African journalists believed that supporting quality information was of secondary importance to governments and the public in a region where so many basic needs were not met.</p>
<p>African journalism felt the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Ghanaian media houses <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBiKTN7h1lA">lost a third of their revenue</a>. Journalists faced <a href="https://kenyanwallstreet.com/nmg-to-layoff-staff-to-survive-revenue-losses/">layoffs</a>, while some newsrooms had to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/06/coronavirus-could-trigger-media-extinction-event-in-developing-countries">cut back</a>, <a href="https://gijn.org/2020/04/27/coronavirus-may-spell-the-end-for-many-of-africas-print-newspapers/">close</a> or put staff on compulsory leave. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/06/coronavirus-could-trigger-media-extinction-event-in-developing-countries">Some</a> fear a media extinction event is inevitable. </p>
<p>Most outlets in Africa received little governmental financial support. African journalists competed with journalists in other regions for donor funding. Most government support available was not media-specific. In sub-Saharan Africa it was mainly in the form of personal protective equipment.</p>
<p>Likewise, much of the support that came from media development organisations and international donors was in the form of capacity-building training to help journalists cover the pandemic effectively, and to support educational programmes.</p>
<h2>Some lingering concerns</h2>
<p>Our interviewees believe that substantial investment is needed in finding systemic solutions to make journalism sustainable. Government support and donor funding could be useful, even though some have reservations about it.</p>
<p>There is a perception that donors support journalism purely to <a href="https://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/To-Tell-You-the-Truth-EthicalJournalism_Final-1.pdf">buy goodwill</a>. As big tech companies <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2021/05/02/around-the-world-governments-are-readying-to-regulate-bigtech/?sh=f0f261a5935f">lobby</a>
governments to shape new regulations and intensify their giving where they fear regulation, or are being required to pay local news publishers for news content liked on their platforms (as in Australia), these concerns seem to be justified. </p>
<p>We believe that journalism can’t depend on the unpredictable philanthropy of tech companies. There are also questions around their possible influence on journalism content. Some of our participants suggested that to stem big tech’s possible control of media outlets, big tech must be made to pay more taxes, partly to support journalism.</p>
<h2>Looking into the future</h2>
<p>There is consensus that the amount of money needed to save journalism is not huge. <a href="https://www.cima.ned.org/publication/confronting-the-crisis-in-independent-media/">Estimates</a> are as low as US$1 billion a year. As a participant said, it is important to look from the ground up.</p>
<p>Systemic solutions like tax on tech (earmarking the revenue for journalism), a levy on turnover to support public interest journalism, government subsidies and tax credits may be useful without interfering in the work journalists do. </p>
<p>Additionally, African countries can take a cue from the Australian Code. They can build consensus to negotiate a good deal that African media will benefit from. The technical, moral, and economic support of competition regulators across countries will have a radical bearing on how negotiations turn out.</p>
<p>For donors, criteria like public trust, relevance and meeting basic information needs can guide which outlet to fund.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175648/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey receives funding from the National Research Foundation, South Africa. </span></em></p>Many countries are experimenting with different forms of government support for journalism, but the question is about what works best and is sustainable.Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey, Research Associate, School of Journalism and Madia Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa / Lecturer, Department of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1103072019-01-29T23:35:56Z2019-01-29T23:35:56ZHow journalists can rebut Trump’s ‘fake news’ claims<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255893/original/file-20190128-108351-1lr5lmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cry 'fake news' and stir up distrust of the media, it's time to embrace 'solutions journalism' that focuses on how to solve problems.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With every Twitter tirade by U.S. President Donald Trump, it becomes more clear that the world needs good journalism.</p>
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<p>But it’s also clear that American politics has become terribly polarized despite a strong tradition of journalists calling out misdeeds and speaking truth to power. </p>
<p>The news media wield tremendous responsibility over democratic discourse. Yet all too often the media are blamed for fuelling mistrust and for peddling fake news. It’s time to push back. </p>
<p>One way to do this is by employing a different strategy for reporting the news through what’s known as <a href="http://j-source.ca/article/solutions-journalism-covering-social-innovation/">“solutions journalism.”</a></p>
<p>Contrary to what the name might imply, solutions journalism is not about reporters telling readers how to solve the world’s most difficult problems. Nor is solutions journalism about feel-good stories and fluff. </p>
<p>Instead, solutions journalism is all about hard news told through cold, hard facts. </p>
<h2>Negative news</h2>
<p>News reports typically identify a conflict (a war), diagnose its causes (ISIS) and draw on sources (military analysts) to shed light on what’s going on. </p>
<p>But there’s a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x">fourth frame</a>, identified by journalism scholar Robert Entman, that is easy to overlook in news reports — discussing remedies to problems. </p>
<p>Solutions journalism tries to change the journalistic equation by giving more prominence to solutions. It reports on responses to social problems by moving the solutions out of the footnotes and into the tough stuff at the top of a story. </p>
<p>Many journalists <a href="https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/solutions-journalism-is-biased-and-other-myths-4b8f2beb69bf">push back on solutions journalism</a>, arguing that it is not the job of journalists to tell people how to solve the world’s ills. But solutions journalism is not about advocating for solutions. It’s about turning a light on the remedies by making them a more prominent part of the narrative. </p>
<p>So what would a solutions story look like in practice? For instance, where a typical climate change story may report on the latest doom-and-gloom statistics about forest fires, a solutions-oriented piece might explore the simple steps you can take to fireproof your backyard and your home. </p>
<p>The solutions story still gets you thinking about climate change and forest fires, but in a way that is far more familiar and accessible. </p>
<h2>Positive psychology to produce news</h2>
<p>Like journalism, the field of psychology has long focused on negative emotions, such as anxiety, anger or fear. Journalism scholars Karen McIntyre and Cathrine Gyldensted say this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1472527">“disease model of the world”</a> explains the excessive emphasis in news reports on chaos, conflict and all that is wrong in the world —as opposed to what is actually working. </p>
<p>They make a case for a “well-being” approach to news reporting — one that considers the positive as well as the negative. This matters because of the role that positive emotions play in psychology. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Politicians and other officials would still be held to account for societal ills with ‘solutions journalism.’ But the coverage would also include information on how to solve those problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>According to Barbara Fredrickson, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693418/pdf/15347528.pdf">positive emotions</a> can have the effect of “widening the array of thoughts and actions that come to mind.” Not only do positive thoughts “<em>signal</em> optimal functioning,” she writes, they also “<em>produce</em> optimal functioning.” </p>
<p>In other words, when we think about what is possible, not only do we feel good, but we are better able to see into the distance and connect the dots. </p>
<h2>The solution <em>is</em> the story</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, in the news industry, there is still a perception that a story about something that’s going right may not attract as large an audience as a story or headline about what’s going wrong. </p>
<p>That may be true in the instant we come across a negative headline and feel the urge to click it. But, as Fredrickson notes, negative emotions narrow our attention spans and constrain how broadly we think about issues or problems. </p>
<p>It’s this constraining dynamic that can drive people into echo chambers and filter bubbles. It also <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spiral-of-cynicism-9780195090642?cc=ca&lang=en&">makes people cynical</a>, and that’s neither good for society nor a good long-term business strategy for the news industry. </p>
<p>According to McIntyre and Gyldensted, one of the ways journalists can open up a discussion about solutions is by adding a future orientation to their story — by asking, and trying to answer, the question: “What now?” </p>
<p>“For example, reporters can ask their sources how problems could be solved, how people could collaborate, or what kind of progress their sources envision,” they write. </p>
<p>Another technique for drawing out solutions is for reporters to ask questions that get at people’s <a href="https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/complicating-the-narratives-b91ea06ddf63">reasons for thinking</a> a certain way — or that tap into what “the other side” thinks. </p>
<p>Using these and other techniques, solutions journalism gives people more reasons to think there are ways out of difficult problems — because there usually are. Ultimately, the approach is about painting a more complete picture of the world and about giving people fewer reasons to turn away from the news.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamyar Razavi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Solutions journalism” aims to give more prominence to solution-oriented narratives. It reports on responses to social problems by moving the solutions out of the footnotes.Kamyar Razavi, Television news producer & PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/994992018-07-11T00:04:26Z2018-07-11T00:04:26ZThe future of local news is one bound with our own<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226840/original/file-20180709-122250-q8gp1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The future of local news is sobering but not without some measure of hope. By illuminating both the values and challenges besetting local journalism, we can reimagine a new day for local news.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2016, the world witnessed a dramatic political shift as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37922961">Brexit in the United Kingdom, followed by the election of President Donald Trump in the United States</a>, revealed fissures in the modern democratic process.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718772186">The emergence of social and digital media</a> as a way to produce, consume and share news was a significant contributing factor to both these events.</p>
<p>Platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter have helped facilitate the spread of “fake news,” which may have unduly influenced the democratic process. </p>
<p>These global events serve as a case study, or perhaps even a warning, about the central role a healthy news ecosystem plays in a functioning democracy. The state of news is under pressure from multiple forces that include digital disruption, the decline of advertising dollars, increased media concentration and an increasingly fragmented audience.</p>
<p>Nowhere are these pressures more keenly felt than in local and community news.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-a-squirrel-dies-the-rapid-decline-of-local-news-82120">When a squirrel dies: The rapid decline of local news</a>
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<p>Research into local news shows that it <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/informing-communities-sustaining-democracy-digital-age/">plays a vital role in the health of communities</a> and in a healthy public sphere, especially when it comes to charitable giving, <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/informing-communities-sustaining-democracy-digital-age">increased turnout in local elections, sharing community stories to enhance social cohesion</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10584609.2012.762817">strengthening local civic culture</a>.</p>
<p>Despite its benefits to communities, however, the availability of local news is inconsistent, if not scarce, across North America. </p>
<p>In the U.S., for example, <a href="http://wp.comminfo.rutgers.edu/mpii-new/wp-content/uploads/sites/129/2015/06/Assessing-Local-Journalism_Final-Draft-6.23.15.pdf">lower-income communities tend to have less access to local news than their higher-income counterparts</a>. Similarly, in Canada, research has shown that <a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2017/canadas-local-news-poverty/">news about key election races is available unevenly across the country</a>. </p>
<h2>Civic reporting doesn’t go viral</h2>
<p>Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are often seen as effective ways to gather and distribute news as well as to reach new audiences. While social media technology can help shed light on some of the pressing issues of local news, and can also provide low-cost, high-impact ways for local news outlets to share information, <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/is-no-election-news-good-news-a-case-study-and-comparison-of-nanaimo-bc-twitter-feeds-and-the-nanaimo-daily-news-during-the-2015-canadian-election/">it may be unwise to put too much faith in them</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, research shows that only certain types of information spread online. Civic reporting, like coverage of town council meetings or budget briefings, are often drowned out by global and national headlines, as well as emotionally-charged and celebrity-driven news. While these preferences reflect previous analog habits to some extent, audiences’ increasing reliance on algorithms and recommendations has led to a deluge of such content, effectively drowning out the weaker signals from local news.</p>
<p>So, we ask, what is the way forward? </p>
<p>We put together a <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/">multi-media publication</a> on local news to explore the changing role of local news in our current media environment and beyond. </p>
<p>Bringing together work from a variety of journalism scholars and practitioners at universities in Canada and beyond, we learned that the future of local news can be understood first by looking at the value of local news, then by considering the challenges facing local news today, then finally in understanding the role of technology in the current and future state of local news. </p>
<h2>Local news values</h2>
<p>The tremendous value of local news can be seen in work by <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/giving-begins-at-the-homepage-local-news-and-charities/">Ryerson University journalism professor Joyce Smith</a>. Looking at the ties between local news and charitable giving, Smith’s work shows how local news can build community cohesion through the act of community giving. </p>
<p>Similarly, work by journalism instructors <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/southern-voices-telling-northern-stories-the-importance-of-local-media-in-coverage-of-the-crystal-serenity-cruise/#1524499620629-c3c4e57a-517a869c-8f6c">Tyler Nagel from SAIT Polytechnic Institute and Alycia Mutual from the University of Northern British Columbia</a> about the coverage of the first cruise ship to go through the Northwest Passage demonstrates the role of local news via a case study in northern Canada. Their research showed that Northern communities are lacking local and public media sources and often rely on southern media to cover stories in their communities.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226855/original/file-20180710-122259-1d5uuhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this August 2016 photo, a man stands on the shore of the Bering Sea to watch the luxury cruise ship Crystal Serenity anchored just outside Nome, Alaska.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)</span></span>
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<p>Finally, <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/disrupting-the-local-sense-of-place-in-hyperlocal-media/">Carrie Buchanan’s work out of John Carroll University</a> shows that independent, non-profit publications tend to publish the largest number of locally relevant stories in their communities, underscoring the need for alternate non-commercial funding models for local journalism.</p>
<h2>Local news challenges</h2>
<p>Despite its value, local news faces some tremendous challenges. For example, investigating the changing and complex nature of the local news audience, <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/shattering-the-myth-audiences-relationship-to-local-media-and-local-news-revisited/">Lenka Waschková Císařová and her team from Masaryk University debunk</a> the myth that local news audiences are declining due to lack of interest. Through their study of Czech local news audiences, they discovered that while few Czech adults consume local news, it may be partly related to the availability of local news across platforms. </p>
<p>Local news availability is truly under threat around the world. <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/death-by-natural-causes-or-premeditated-murder-b-c-chains-eliminate-competition-by-buying-trading-and-closing-newspapers/">Marc Edge from University Canada West</a> suggests that Canadian regulators have not done enough to curb anti-competitive behaviour by Canadian newspaper chains and that readers who now have fewer news sources to choose from are paying the price. </p>
<p><a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/assessing-news-media-infrastructure-a-state-level-analysis/">Phillip Napoli’s team at Rutgers University</a> notes significant differences in local news availability in different regions of the United States. The Rutgers analysis suggests that while some communities may be able to continue under current models of financing, advertising and audience availability, others will need to find creative ways to remain viable.</p>
<h2>Local news and technology</h2>
<p>Technology may be an additional contributing factor to the decline of local news availability. However, it also offers some innovative solutions.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226856/original/file-20180710-122265-1ao8pdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Twitter isn’t much of a replacement for actual local news coverage, according to research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)</span></span>
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<p>The first author of this piece, Jaigris Hodson, did research at Royal Roads University <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/is-no-election-news-good-news-a-case-study-and-comparison-of-nanaimo-bc-twitter-feeds-and-the-nanaimo-daily-news-during-the-2015-canadian-election/">to examine whether the popular social media platform Twitter</a> can pick up the slack in election coverage when a local newspaper is shut down. She found that topics that trend on Twitter tend to be national rather than local or hyper-local in scope. This research adds to a growing number of studies of social media that suggest it cannot by itself make up for declining traditional sources of local news.</p>
<p>Despite this, there is promise in the use of technology to understand the state of local news. <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/geospatial-tools-for-the-visualization-and-analysis-of-local-news-distribution/">Claus Rinner’s team at Ryerson University</a> combined geographic information systems and news content analysis in a new method for understanding patterns of local news coverage.</p>
<p><a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/the-local-news-map-transparency-credibility-and-critical-cartography/">April Lindgren from Ryerson University and Jon Corbett from UBC</a> showed how participatory mapping can be used to track changes to local news outlets. Finally, work by the second author of this piece, <a href="http://futureoflocalnews.org/portfolio-item/towards-an-algorithmic-journalism-assessment-tool-accounting-for-source-diversity-in-local-digital-news/">Asmaa Malik, along with Gavin Adamson at Ryerson University</a>, shows the potential for what’s known as natural language processing to help local news audiences and journalists assess news quality. This type of technological initiative is much needed in an era of fake news.</p>
<h2>A future bound with our own</h2>
<p>Taken all together, the research shows that the future of local news is sobering but not without some measure of hope. By illuminating both the values and challenges besetting local journalism, we can re-imagine a future for local news where some of these challenges may be addressed more clearly.</p>
<p>Perhaps new business models, such as entrepreneurship, can offer one way to help fill a gap that has been left by the old-media monopoly model.</p>
<p>At Ryerson University, for example, journalism-related startups are <a href="https://dmz.ryerson.ca/press_releases/facebook-journalism-project-dmz-ryerson-school-journalism-team-launch-digital-news-innovation-challenge/">developing innovative tools and services </a> to serve their communities with news via the Digital News Innovation Challenge. </p>
<p>Local news will not survive if it tries to simply put old wine into new bottles. Instead, local news producers must create news that resonates with their communities. The crowd-sourcing technologies developed by Lindgren and Corbett and the mapping tool created by Rinner’s team may lead to more precise, targeted efforts to address the needs of diverse local news audiences. </p>
<p>At the very least, they encourage us to think outside the box and remember that the audience needs to be attended to before they are ready to pay attention.</p>
<p>Finally, we must remember that local news can be more meaningful to communities when those who deliver it are part of the fabric of that community. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226858/original/file-20180710-122247-1d4b1bb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna is surrounded by media during the Council of Federation meetings in Edmonton in July 2017. It’s important that local reporters cover local events, not reporters from afar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
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<p>Smith’s work on charitable giving showed this, as did Buchanan’s work on independent hyper-local media. A local news organization run by a faceless national corporation will perhaps not be able to garner the support of a community the way a local news outlet can. For this reason, we are encouraged to reflect on the right scale for local news. Small may very well be the new big when it comes to ensuring the sustainability of local and community news over time.</p>
<p>Local news availability impacts each of us in all of our communities. The future of local news is tightly bound with our own as we continue to face the political and economic uncertainties of our times.</p>
<hr>
<p>This piece is a modified version of the Editors’ Note from our recent publication: <em>The Future of Local News: Research and Reflections</em>, accessible at futureoflocalnews.org</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaigris Hodson received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connection Grant Program for this work. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asmaa Malik received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connection Grant Program for this work. </span></em></p>Local news is in peril. Here’s what can be done to save it.Jaigris Hodson, Assistant Professor of Digital Research, Royal Roads UniversityAsmaa Malik, Assistant professor, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/939022018-03-26T23:01:53Z2018-03-26T23:01:53ZHow Ottawa should spend its $50 million to support local news<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211985/original/file-20180326-159087-pyzm21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who holds officials accountable when cities like Thunder Bay, Ont., rife with political and racial tensions, have no local reporters? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s $50 million in federal government money on the table in Canada to support local journalism in the country’s under-served communities over the next five years. </p>
<p>What’s the best way to spend it?</p>
<p>Last month’s federal budget announcement is an acknowledgement that access to reliable, timely, relevant local news is a growing problem. Data from <a href="https://localnewsmap.geolive.ca/">The Local News Map</a>, a crowd-sourced tool that tracks changes to local media, shows that 244 local news outlets of all types have closed in 181 Canadian communities since 2008. Over the same period, only 75 new operations were launched. </p>
<p>We are starting to hear about the consequences of what I call “local news poverty” — situations where the critical information needs of communities are not being met.</p>
<p>When Postmedia and Torstar Corp. announced the closing of three dozen newspapers in late 2017, <a href="https://j-source.ca/article/local-media-outlets-close-ontario-mayors-struggle-get-information-public/">local mayors worried aloud about how to keep their citizenry informed.</a> In Thunder Bay, Ont., a city churning with political scandal and racial tensions, <a href="http://j-source.ca/article/study-news-poverty-thunder-bay/">the local newspaper at one point had no local reporter on staff</a> to hold officials accountable. Wire copy and short items by the paper’s two photographers filled the pages. </p>
<p>The federal government did not dictate how its $50 million will be spent: It said only that the money will fund “independent non-governmental organizations.” And so the search begins for ideas worth supporting. </p>
<h2>‘Local democracy reporters’</h2>
<p>Experiments aimed at strengthening local news are already underway in other jurisdictions. In the United Kingdom, the BBC is paying the salaries of 150 journalists who are embedded at newspapers, radio stations, online sites and other local media organizations. These <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/lnp/ldrs">“local democracy reporters”</a> cover local political and civic news and their stories are shared with more than 700 media outlets that have signed onto the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/lnp/">Local News Partnerships Program</a>. </p>
<p>The recently launched <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org/blog/2018/2/7/report-for-america-announces-winning-news-outlets-participating-in-local-journalism-program-press-release">Report for America</a> initiative aims to place 1,000 reporters in U.S. newsrooms over the next five years to fill gaps in community coverage. Report for America, funded by the Google News Lab, foundations and individual donors, pays half of each reporter’s salary; local news outlets and philanthropists must cover the other half.</p>
<p>The $50 million could be used to create a made-in-Canada version of these initiatives, but paying the salaries of legions of journalists isn’t sustainable over the long term: five years from now, when the federal funding is gone, the reporters will be gone too.</p>
<p>The money would be better spent on projects that build capacity in local newsrooms. <a href="https://localnewslab.org/">The Local News Lab</a>, another foundation-funded project in the United States, <a href="https://medium.com/the-local-news-lab/report-lessons-learned-from-the-local-news-lab-5bdd47993f3b">explores strategies for building a stronger local news environment in New Jersey</a>. Drawing on this work and experiments in local newsroom sustainability across the country, it <a href="https://localnewslab.org/all-guides/">produces reports</a> offering practical advice on everything from running effective crowd-funding campaigns to putting out a newsletter. </p>
<p>These resources help startups and other struggling local news outlets avoid common mistakes, and they are worth supporting. But a $50 million investment should also buy a more concrete, lasting contribution to quality news coverage.</p>
<h2>Stories with strong local angles</h2>
<p>The establishment of a Local News Data Lab would be a good start. The idea is borrowed from two recent data journalism initiatives in the United Kingdom. The BBC’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/lnp/sdu">Shared Data Unit</a> brings together experienced BBC data journalists and reporters seconded from the local media. </p>
<p>The local reporters build their skills as part of a team that uses data that is publicly available or obtained via freedom of information requests to produce national stories with strong local angles. </p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/lnp/SDU-coverage/busservices">recent project</a> that made data on the decline of local bus services available to local news partners in an easy-to-use format resulted in dozens of local stories. The Shared Data Unit also provided local journalists with a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CEcTMcso5PpOwbEPRmVbpsiekearafw-zX4ctv-V-oA/edit#heading=h.z6ne0og04bp5">background briefing document</a> that outlined why the bus network was in the news, why the issue is important and what the data shows. </p>
<p>Graphs, question-and-answer interviews with experts and examples of localized stories were also included.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/projects/the-bureau-local">The Bureau Local</a>, launched in March 2017 and run by the not-for-profit <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/about-us">Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a>, is another U.K-based project that focuses on data journalism. Last year the Bureau’s journalists worked with local reporters and the volunteers in its network to produce a <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-10-16/a-system-at-breaking-point">national story</a> chronicling how victims of domestic violence were being turned away from cash-strapped crisis shelters. </p>
<p>The investigation, based on open government data, FOI responses, a survey of shelter managers and interviews with women who rely upon the shelter system, resulted in more than <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2017-10-19/refuges-at-breaking-point-stories-from-around-the-country">30 local stories</a>. </p>
<h2>Political donations database</h2>
<p>But we don’t need to look so far afield for an example of how a Local News Data Lab could enrich local journalism here in Canada. Reporter <a href="https://www.zaneschwartz.com/about.html">Zane Schwartz</a>, this year’s Postmedia annual Michelle Lang Fellow, performed a great public service last week when he released Canada’s <a href="http://special.nationalpost.com/follow-the-money/database">first centralized, searchable database of political donations</a>. </p>
<p>Schwartz spent a year gathering <a href="http://special.nationalpost.com/follow-the-money/methodology">six million records for provincial and federal donations </a> — many of them in formats that were less than user friendly — and organizing them into an accessible database. </p>
<p>His <a href="http://special.nationalpost.com/follow-the-money/feature">subsequent story</a> points to contributors who exceeded provincial caps on donations, donations to Yukon politicians from supporters who don’t live in the territory and numbered companies that make for a less-than-transparent system. </p>
<p>Schwartz invited engaged citizens and other media outlets to explore the data. Journalists who query the name of local constituency associations or their federal and provincial representatives are almost guaranteed a story. </p>
<p>A Local News Data Lab run by experienced data journalists could make this type of collaborative, investigative local storytelling an ongoing reality in Canada. </p>
<h2>Possible partners?</h2>
<p>If it operated under the auspices of a school of journalism, student interns could work with the professionals and get hands-on data journalism experience. Or it could collaborate with an organization like The Canadian Press — the national wire service’s news subscribers would be a ready-made network of local partners.</p>
<p>Sure, there will be instances where newsrooms won’t produce stories even when they are spoon-fed local data and a how-to-do-it story recipe. But overall, there will be more local investigative stories about issues that matter. </p>
<p>Student internships, newsroom collaborations and training opportunities for reporters in the field will build much-needed data journalism skills in local news organizations across the country. </p>
<p>And if the lab proves its worth after five years, other funders may step up to keep it going. The Local News Data Lab will not singlehandedly solve the problems of local journalism in Canada. But public money invested in it would be money well spent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> April Lindgren’s research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the SSHRC-funded Canadian Geospatial and Open Data Research Partnership, the Canadian Media Guild/CWA Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the MITACS Accelerate Program, Unifor and Ryerson University.</span></em></p>Ottawa must decide how to spend the $50 million it’s allocated to support local journalism. The establishment of a Local News Data Lab would be a good start. Here’s how it might work.April Lindgren, Associate Professor of Journalism, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.