Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Virginia’s News Deserts

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Virginia has lost 23 local newspapers since 2005 — a decline of 23%, according to a report by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. Seven counties have no local newspaper; 93 have just one, and most of those are weeklies, reports Axios-Richmond in summarizing the report. Gannett and Lee Enterprises own 36 newspapers that don’t employ any local staff at all, publishing “ghost newspapers,” publications compiled by off-site corporate staffers, says Axios. — JAB

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16 responses to “Virginia’s News Deserts”

  1. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Thank God for NPR and PBS. Time for VPR and VPS?

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      VPM?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Apparently.

  2. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
    f/k/a_tmtfairfax

    History and common sense teach us that a business needs to know the desires of its intended customer base and strive to meet those needs. Some businesses do better than others in this area.

    However, many in journalism don’t know or accept this. They believe that writing or broadcasting in a manner that meets the needs of the writer or newscaster is the right thing to do. There is room for some of this behavior in cable or Internet outlets (e.g., NBC, CNN, Fox), but not in local outlets. People generally don’t care what the author believes but simply wants to know what is happening in the community. Journalists used to be able to do this.

    As a result of ego-centric reporting, readers and listeners have disappeared as have many advertisers. Many local newspapers have folded. Many broadcast outlets are struggling. Journalists are losing jobs at a rapid pace. Even moneybags Bezos has limits with the WaPo.

    Bottom line – a self-inflicted wound.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      I disagree. The main reason newspapers are struggling is that people can get so much news off the internet and go there. Advertisers go where the folks are. Another reason is that companies like Lee suck so much out of the newspapers they buy that there are fewer resources to keep staff. Consequently, staff positions are eliminated and, with those eliminations goes a lot of state and local coverage. Not being able to get local news in the local Lee paper, folks drop their subscriptions. And the cycle goes on.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I reject all the stuff about the papers not doing the news and instead lefty viewpoints.

        So they lose the advertising revenue to te internet even though they all have online versions… with advertising… so what happened?

        My theory is that the cost to advertise plummeted with the internet, social media … FB and “X” are chock full of advertising, and FB (and GOOGLE) fabulously rich from advertising.

        So papers do advertise in their online versions but the difference is that a one page AD in the past might cost $1000 or more… and that was their cash cow that allowed them to a lot of staff that, in turn, got a lot of local news.

        But when the price of “one page” (no longer a concept) dropped to 1/10 or lower, the papers were decimated financially and really were going to go bankrupt if it were not for companies like Lee Enterprises which has done what has to be done to keep these papers from disappearing altogether and that many happen anyhow.

        The internet “disrupted” many a business model. The papers were not alone.

        And we’re not going back… ADs no longer will cost $1000 a “page”.

        So if we want to keep local news, a different business model will have to be developed.

        The “paywall” idea might work for the NYT or WSJ but it won’t work for local news… the more they do it, the more people no longer try to read them. AND… most know if they “google” around , they can eventually get the story although sometimes it will be by a site that puts to shame the “bias” coverage of the local papers…

      2. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
        f/k/a_tmtfairfax

        Did you notice that the WaPo, which sent a truckload of reporters to cover a special Senate election in Alabama, missed the sexual abuse allegations against NYC mayoral candidate Eric Adams? Didn’t it also miss some racial bigotry allegations against a candidate for Lt. Governor and Governor of Virginia?

        Did you notice that many of the WaPo reporters have been protesting the leftwing editorial board’s support for Israel after the Hammas ‘ attack? Those reporters can be counted upon to report in an unbiased manner.

        If the media had continued to cover all the news instead of being cheerleaders for the Democratic Party and embraced the Internet, many would have retained the readership and the advertising as they transitioned to a more electronic presence. They forfeited much of their revenue to FB, Google, X, etc.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Did you ever notice what stories WSJ and other right wing media “miss”?

          And in terms of lies, conspiracy theories and worse, where media chooses to publish them?

          1. f/k/a_tmtfairfax Avatar
            f/k/a_tmtfairfax

            I’ve never praised the WSJ. My criticism of the MSM is quite general in nature. And my argument stands unrebutted.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Forget, WSJ and include most media on the right, then. Does the media on the right provide full coverage on issues in a fair and unbiased way?

  3. James Kiser Avatar
    James Kiser

    The Waynesboro paper is down to three a week unless you get digital and the vast majority of stories are AP (which I don’t read at all) or a few local stories which have more to do with Charlottesville or Richmond.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Lee Enterprises owns these Va papers:

      Bristol Bristol Herald Courier
      Charlottesville The Daily Progress
      Culpeper Culpeper Star-Exponent
      Danville Danville Register & Bee
      Fredericksburg The Free Lance–Star
      Lynchburg The News & Advance
      Martinsville Martinsville Bulletin
      Richmond Richmond Times-Dispatch
      Roanoke The Roanoke Times
      Rocky Mount The Franklin News-Post
      Waynesboro The News Virginian

      they often share stories between the papers.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    I subscribe to several digital papers around the Commonwealth, primarily to keep up with what is going on in other areas. However, my low introductroy rates are beginning to run out, so I may drop some.

    Larry is right–they share stories. If you have seen one paper, you have seen them all, almost. Each paper may have a story centered on the locality, but that’s it. They would be so much more valuable to the community if they would drop the national news stories (mostly AP writers) and concentrate on what is going on the community.

    Other, newer media have begun to fill the void. They are primarily nonprofit, reader or grant-supported news outlets, such the Virginia Mercury. Another example is the Cardinal News, which I have found to be an excellent source for news and analysis for areas west of the Blue Ridge and, occasionally, on the eastern slopes. Locally, for state news, the public radio station VPM provides a lot of coverage of state government. (The Times-Dispatch used to have several good reporters devoted to specific areas of state government. For example, Frank Green covered public safety, but he is gone and I got the story on the holdup on state regulations in the public safety sector and others from VPM.) For news about Henrico, I depend on the Henrico Citizen, a newsletter with some decent reporters.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I don’t know how Virginia Mercury and Cardinal (are excellent) make it… I don’t know how they
      make money and suspect the journalists have other jobs and do it as a side. Getting health insurance and putting aside retirement money
      can’t be an easy thing with journalism these days.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        The make it with grants. Then they wink at us and claim the grant providers never push for particular stories or POV…

        Hell, the pay sucked when I left almost 40 years ago. If you couldn’t get onto the Post or some other national outlet, or get to top management, poverty was guaranteed. I couldn’t spel well enuff to be an editor….

        Given that all those papers are owned by one entity, and much of the content is shared, I’d think a shared subscription concept would be popular. Pay a few bucks more for access to all…but these folks are very, very greedy.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          where do the “grants” come from? re: shared subscription – YES! I don’t know why they
          won’t do that….

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