歪歪漫画

This article is a part of Trust Week, a Forum Communications series.

When a community loses its newspaper and is left with no credible, consistent source for local news, it鈥檚 called a news desert. But what happens when the newspaper is hanging on by a thread and no longer has the resources or ability to actually cover its community?

These so-called 鈥済host newspapers鈥� are increasingly common, and the problem is no longer limited to rural, sparsely populated areas.

Roughly a fifth of the nation鈥檚 population live in a news desert or a community at risk of becoming one, according to a 2022 report conducted by the Medill (歪歪漫画 of Journalism) Local News Initiative.

One of those communities is St. Cloud, Minn.

This bustling city, roughly an hour鈥檚 drive from the Twin Cities, is home to more than 60,000 people and thousands more living in smaller communities around St. Cloud. It鈥檚 far too big to not have a robust media source.

The St. Cloud newspaper, owned by Maclean, Va.-based Gannett, still exists. But it would be a stretch to call it local at this moment. The reporting team, once some of the state鈥檚 best and brightest journalists, has been depleted. No one in the media, not even competitors, feel good about what鈥檚 happened there. The situation has garnered and even national attention in recent months.

St. Cloud does have a well-respected radio station, and in February, Forum Communications Company launched a new online news site to serve readers with local news, weather and sports: . That website is updated daily. Weekly, there is an e-newsletter (you can sign up for that ) and in March Forum Communications added a monthly print publication called .

The reception, so far, has been overwhelmingly positive. People seem to recognize the value of local journalism and the role it plays in helping keep the community informed and connected. Additional staff will be added in St. Cloud over the next couple of months to be able to provide even more local coverage.

In places where there aren鈥檛 larger, community-focused media companies to fill the news hole, niche publications and social media fill some of the gap. Local or not, credible or not, partisan or not, there鈥檚 no shortage of people claiming to be a source of information.

Long term? Experts warn it鈥檚 a dangerous path.

鈥淭he loss of local journalism has been accompanied by the malignant spread of misinformation and disinformation, political polarization, eroding trust in media, and a yawning digital and economic divide among citizens,鈥� the Medill report says. 鈥淚n communities without a credible source of local news, voter participation declines, corruption in both government and business increases, and local residents end up paying more in taxes and at checkout.鈥�

So what can be done?

Those who have studied the issue extensively would first encourage greater awareness of the issue and recognition of its impacts on society. That awareness can then activate support, be it readership or subscription support; business support in the form of advertising; or sponsorships or other community-focused partnerships.

Another issue that鈥檚 leading to the decline of newspapers and local media is lack of access to broadband Internet, particularly in rural areas. We have plenty of those around Minnesota and the Dakotas. Although having the local news itself is more important than what platform it鈥檚 delivered on, it鈥檚 still important that people be able to access it without barriers.

In the end, citizens, businesses and even the government all need to be part of the solution. Without support, local media cannot survive.

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