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John Nichols: Don't let local journalism become a COVID-19 casualty
https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-dont-let-local-journalism-become-a-covid-19-casualty/article_c4534f0c-b37d-5302-8baf-e1389a6b0456.html
John Nichols 21 hrs ago
A typewriter at Simpson Street Free Press in Monona, on Thursday, December 7, 2017. PHOTO BY MICHELLE STOCKER
There is no freedom of the press without the press. And the press is threatened, as never before, by the coronavirus pandemic.
Already struggling before the virus hit and the economy shut down, local media has been rocked so hard over the past two months that the Poynter Institute for Media Studies reports, “It’s getting hard to keep track of the bad news about the news right now.” The research arm of the journalism group has been trying, however — maintaining an ever-expanding list of the thousands of journalism jobs that have been lost or diminished in a wave of closings, cutbacks, layoffs, firings, furloughs and general downsizing that has gutted print, digital and broadcast newsrooms.
According to a New York Times survey, roughly 36,000 media workers in the United States have been laid off, furloughed or seen their pay reduced.
“Hunger for news in a time of crisis has sent droves of readers to many publications,” the Times explained. “But with businesses paused or closed — and no longer willing or able to pay for advertisements — a crucial part of the industry’s support system has cracked.”
It’s not cracked. It’s broken.
</snip>
John Nichols 21 hrs ago
A typewriter at Simpson Street Free Press in Monona, on Thursday, December 7, 2017. PHOTO BY MICHELLE STOCKER
There is no freedom of the press without the press. And the press is threatened, as never before, by the coronavirus pandemic.
Already struggling before the virus hit and the economy shut down, local media has been rocked so hard over the past two months that the Poynter Institute for Media Studies reports, “It’s getting hard to keep track of the bad news about the news right now.” The research arm of the journalism group has been trying, however — maintaining an ever-expanding list of the thousands of journalism jobs that have been lost or diminished in a wave of closings, cutbacks, layoffs, firings, furloughs and general downsizing that has gutted print, digital and broadcast newsrooms.
According to a New York Times survey, roughly 36,000 media workers in the United States have been laid off, furloughed or seen their pay reduced.
“Hunger for news in a time of crisis has sent droves of readers to many publications,” the Times explained. “But with businesses paused or closed — and no longer willing or able to pay for advertisements — a crucial part of the industry’s support system has cracked.”
It’s not cracked. It’s broken.
</snip>
I hadn't subscribed to my local newspaper for years, so I bought an online subscription when the pandemic started for local news about it. I was hoping this would spur more people to do the same.
4 replies
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