Ghosting the News
Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy
Columbia Global Reports · Print & ebook · July 24, 2020
"An excellent introduction to the essential problem of our republic.
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- Who it’s for
- A sharp look at why local journalism matters, and what fraying it leaves behind.
- Genres
- Media, Politics & the Internet, Journalism, How Media Works
- Published
- Columbia Global Reports, July 24, 2020
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"An excellent introduction to the essential problem of our republic. With a wake-up call like this one, we still have a chance." —Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny Ghosting the News tells the most troubling media story of our time: How democracy suffers when local news dies. From 2004 to 2015, 1,800 print newspaper outlets closed in the US. One in five news organizations in Canada has closed since 2008. One in three Brazilians lives in news deserts.
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The absence of accountability journalism has created an atmosphere in which indicted politicians were elected, school superintendents were mismanaging districts, and police chiefs were getting mysterious payouts. This is not the much-discussed fake-news problem—it's the separate problem of a critical shortage of real news. America's premier media critic, Margaret Sullivan, charts the contours of the damage, and surveys a range of new efforts to keep local news alive—from non-profit digital sites to an effort modeled on the Peace Corps. No nostalgic paean to the roar of rumbling presses, Ghosting the News instead sounds a loud alarm, alerting citizens to a growing crisis in local news that has already done serious damage.
Why It Lands
A sharp look at why local journalism matters, and what fraying it leaves behind.
Come here for
- local-news crisis, clearly unpacked
- quick-reference usefulness with civic stakes
Expect
- concise explanation
- easy to dip into between headlines
Where it sits
| Media, Politics & the Internet | 39% |
|---|---|
| How Media Works | 36% |
| Journalism | 32% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Media & Communications
- Local Government
- Media, Politics & the Internet
- Authors
- Margaret Sullivan
- Publisher
- Columbia Global Reports
- Published
- July 24, 2020
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Media & Communications