Where do you get your news?
As journalists, we have an obvious stake in the media’s attention economy. But, we think this question is something every person should be thinking about, as you play a role in how information is spread.
Apart from (hopefully) your daily dose of The Brown and White, Pew Research Center found Americans are increasingly reliant on social media, podcasts or online national outlets to get their news, leaving local newspapers struggling for readership and financial stability.
It’s not hard to see why this change is happening. Inflammatory stories of partisan politics and national crises are naturally more appealing to readers than the smaller-scale coverage of local papers, and incoming journalists see more fame and money in a career as a national political correspondent than as a beat reporter for a small-time paper.
Social media also creates an ease of access to news stories that do not exist with a local station or website. Readers can scroll straight from posts about their cousin’s dog or their friend’s relationship update to the bite-sized, and often exaggerated, snippets of news that gain traction on TikTok and Twitter.
Still, the decline of local newspapers — ironically reported on by mostly national sources — is negatively impacting our ability to stay informed about local communities.
As news gets pushed toward general and often national coverage, many issues of local importance fall to the wayside, making it more difficult for citizens to become knowledgeable about local matters and get involved in local politics.
One prominent, recent example of the effect of limited local journalism is the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio.
On Feb. 3, a train owned by the transportation company Norfolk Southern fell off its tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, bursting into flames and covering the town in toxic smoke for days.
The train contained, among other toxic substances, the chemical vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that can cause a variety of adverse effects ranging from headaches and rashes to lung, brain and liver cancer.
Houses in a one-mile radius of the derailment were quickly evacuated, and a smattering of local outlets reported on the incident. At that time, the coverage largely stopped, meaning more remote areas did not know their water and air were contaminated until almost a week later.
Eventually, as residents continued to complain about the lackluster government response and continued symptoms despite assurances from state EPA officials, the story was finally picked up by national outlets.
This new round of coverage led to calls for additional support in the area and accountability for the parties responsible for the spill.
But it was too little too late to prevent many unneeded health risks to those in the affected area.
The blame here should not be placed on the national outlets themselves. During the week of the derailment, national publications were covering a massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the murder of Tyre Nichols and the Chinese spy balloon saga.
We are not saying the aforementioned issues should have been pushed aside in favor of one of many events in East Palestine, but the limited space and resources to cover stories in national outlets simply cannot account for the number of issues that citizens need to know about.
A strong set of state and local newspapers dedicated to the most important matters in their scope will prevent issues like the Ohio train derailment from being unnecessarily exacerbated due to a lack of information dissemination.
An educated and informed populace is one of the most important checks on government and other organizational leadership, especially on the local level.
We realize that, as a local paper ourselves, we may be screaming into the void here, but we feel we have no other options at this point.
Each and every person reading this, even if you regularly disagree with every word we write, we are thankful for your readership and your support, and we hope you will spread the good word of local journalism to your friends and foes alike.
As long as you remain, we will continue to do our part and give you “All the Lehigh News First.”
P.S. don’t forget to renew your Morning Call subscription and subscribe to our email alerts!
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