The local information crisis is deepening American divisions

About two newspapers in the United States close each week, according to a new report, suggesting that the local news crisis caused by the pandemic will worsen in the coming years.

Why it matters: Hyperlocal communities are disproportionately impacted by the downfall of local newspapers compared to big cities, widening the economic divide in the United States.

The average poverty rate in a news desert, or community without a local newspaper, in the United States is 16%, compared to the national average of 11%, according to the new report from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, Media , Integrated Marketing Communications. “This is a crisis for our democracy and our society,” Penelope Muse Abernathy, visiting professor at Medill and lead author of the report, said in a statement. "[W]hile the economic decline of many communities occurred before the rise of the news deserts, the loss of a local news organization will leave local residents without the essential information to begin addressing these issues," Abernathy said. to Axios via email. "At a minimum, the loss of local news is deepening the political, cultural and economic divisions in this country."

Details: The average median annual household income in a news desert is $15,000 less than that of an average US household. Only 20% of adults living in information deserts have a bachelor's degree, compared to 38% in the United States.

The lack of reliable local news compounds governance problems that make communities less efficient and prosperous. A study suggests that government costs rise when local newspapers close. The report cites access to affordable broadband as one of the barriers preventing small rural communities from accessing new digital news alternatives as newspapers decline.

Status: About 7% of US counties now have no local media at all, and about 20% are at risk of seeing their communities become information wastelands for the foreseeable future.

The surviving newspapers are only a fraction of their former size, and revenues and profits have declined significantly. In 2005, newspaper revenues topped $50 billion, compared to about $20 billion today. Newspaper employment has fallen by around 70% since 2006, with the largest reductions (82%) attributed to production and distribution staff. The number of local news editors...