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THREAD: Local newspapers are dying. Often, they're the only institutions working to hold government, businesses and powerful individuals accountable. Today, @latimesopinion is urging policy makers to #SavetheNews. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-24/local-newspapers-dying-ways-to-save-them
The Great Recession left newspapers depleted and struggling. Now COVID-19 threatens to turn into a mass-extinction event. https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/03/newsonomics-what-was-once-unthinkable-is-quickly-becoming-reality-in-the-destruction-of-local-news/
Two of California's 58 counties have no local newspaper. Since the pandemic started, newsrooms from Chico and Marysville to Sacramento and San Diego have had to make painful cuts. https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2020/the-coronavirus-forces-furloughs-layoffs-and-print-reductions-at-newspapers-across-north-america/
Half of U.S. counties that have reported COVID-19 cases are "news deserts"—home to only one local paper, or none at all. In a third of these counties, local newspapers vanished between 2004 and 2019. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/04/08/critical-in-a-public-health-crisis-covid-19-has-hit-local-newsrooms-hard/
The burgeoning nonprofit news movement is absolutely worthy of our support. But for now, charitable and philanthropic funding isn't anywhere close to the scale needed to make up for the loss of local news: https://inn.org/members/
What can be done? We support the latest House pandemic stimulus bill, which would make it easier for local news companies to qualify for forgivable loans and cut some of their costs. https://www.wsj.com/articles/many-newspapers-want-coronavirus-stimulus-four-out-of-five-cant-get-it-11587987059
We think it should be easier for local news companies to become nonprofit entities, as the @sltrib did last year. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/11/04/historic-shift-salt-lake/
A deconsolidation fund could help take newspapers nonprofit or even buy them from private equity firms. Locally owned newspapers like @latimes @BostonGlobe @seattletimes @StarTribune are more accountable to their readers than financier-controlled chains. https://www.cjr.org/analysis/local-news-rescue-plan.php
More ideas in the editorial. Thanks to @DrPatSoonShiong and @latguild, we're confident @latimes has a future—but we're deeply worried about the disappearance of local news and its impact on democracy. Readers, here's how you can help: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/support-local-journalism.html
