Local journalism serves an indispensable role as the first line of democratic accountability in cities, towns, and states across America. But in recent decades, local journalism has declined dramatically. Growing news deserts pose far-reaching dangers for political competition and local democracy.
While a number of promising experiments to fill the news void are underway, there is no single solution to the ongoing consolidation and contraction of local journalism. What can be done to revive local journalism, and what are innovative news organizations doing to sustain local coverage and investigative reporting?
On October 8, join the Manhattan Institute for a two-part discussion on how the decline in local journalism affects the health of local democracy, and the steps local media organizations are taking to develop sustainable business practices in the modern media landscape.
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PANEL I: NEWS DESERTS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE LOCAL DEMOCRACY
12:00–1:00 PM EDT
- Penny Muse Abernathy, Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics Professor, University of North Carolina
- Stephen Engelberg, Managing Editor, ProPublica
- Nicco Mele, Managing Director, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
- Moderator: Judith Miller, Adjunct Fellow, Manhattan Institute; Contributing Editor, City Journal
PANEL II: SUSTAINING LOCAL JOURNALISM IN THE MODERN MEDIA LANDSCAPE
1:00–2:00 PM EDT
- Gordon Crovitz, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, NewsGuard, Inc.; Former Publisher, Wall Street Journal
- Fredric Rutberg, President & Publisher, The Berkshire Eagle
- Laura Walker, President, Bennington College
- Moderator: Howard Husock, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute; Contributing Editor, City Journal
communications@manhattan-institute.org