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Disappearing Democracy: The Collapse Of The Local Paper

pxhere.com

News deserts are cropping up across America.A new reportshows nearly 1,800 papers have shuttered or merged since 2004, and 171 counties across the U.S. have no local newspaper. This decline has deep implications for civic participation and government accountability, which become even more critical around election time.Host Frank Stasio speaks with Penelope Muse Abernathy, the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, about the disappearance of local news papers.

Host Frank Stasio speaks withPenelope Muse Abernathy, the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hilland author of the report, about media ownership concentration and about the strategies needed to keep strong local journalism alive in the near future.

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Laura Pellicer is a producer with The State of Things (hyperlink), a show that explores North Carolina through conversation. Laura was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, a city she considers arrestingly beautiful, if not a little dysfunctional. She worked as a researcher for CBC Montreal and also contributed to their programming as an investigative journalist, social media reporter, and special projects planner. Her work has been nominated for two Canadian RTDNA Awards. Laura loves looking into how cities work, pursuing stories about indigenous rights, and finding fresh voices to share with listeners. Laura is enamored with her new home in North Carolina—notably the lush forests, and the waves where she plans on moonlighting as a mediocre surfer.