News Deserts are communities that are no longer covered by daily newspapers. The term emerged in the United States after hundreds of daily and weekly newspapers were closed in the 2000s and the 2010s.
The history of News Deserts
“Newspaper circulation is down sharply, and so is employment in the newspaper industry. Financial cutbacks have led to the shutdown of nearly 1,800 daily and weekly newspapers since 2004.”
“About 70 percent of the newspapers that have died since 2004 were in suburban areas of metropolitan areas that historically offered many news choices, the researchers say, but counties with no coverage at all tend to be rural.”
What is being done about it?
“Facebook, whose success has contributed to the news business’ decline, announced Tuesday it would invest $300 million over three years in news initiatives with an emphasis in local coverage.”
“At Ohio University, professor Michelle Ferrier, director of the Media Deserts Project and a pioneer in studying fading newspapers and online efforts to replace their journalism, went beyond research and announced the launch of ZipIt.news as communications hubs to serve 20 rural communities in southeast Ohio.”
Find out more here: https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2018/about-1300-u-s-communities-have-totally-lost-news-coverage-unc-news-desert-study-finds/
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