The Death of Local Media

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Hi everyone, my name is Edie Horner and today I am hosting this episode of the Bridgestone Beacon. So we are going to be discussing a topic that I'm actually very passionate about and that affects millions of people across the country and that is the decline of local media in low-income areas. So if you were previously unaware there has been major decline in access to reliable local news and media. Thousands of local newsrooms are shutting down

which is leaving journalists unemployed and causing a lack of local news coverage and spread of information. There are numerous outlets that continue to report national and state news, but many individuals are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain information on the local scare scale. So why does this matter? It matters because citizens of these communities are left without easy access to what is going on in the areas around them. It's leaving them uninformed and unable to make decisions about their lives.

Sadly, this mostly impacts low income areas where there are limited resources and opportunities for local news to be shared. This silences the voices of these communities and it greatly impacts civic engagement and democracy. So if we take a look at how this decline in local media has developed over the years, we'll see that there is noticeable effects. So what does it mean that journalism is dying? It means that print news is no longer a widespread media outlet.

Northwestern University has reported that more than half of U.S. counties have no access or very limited access to local news. Instead, individuals have relied on social media and other forms of online platforms to receive their news, which as we know is not always reliable. And this becomes an issue when reporting local news as many towns and counties do not have platforms to share information. Sadly, this really impacts low income communities even more so.

since they don't have the resources to create their own forms of news coverage. This is not an issue that has just started overnight. It's been occurring and gaining momentum for the last couple decades. So the Seattle News has reported that local news in the United States has been increasingly declining since 2005, with over 2,500 local newspapers closing. That's nearly a quarter in total.

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and two thirds of news journalists have lost their jobs. In 2023, an average of two and a half newspapers closed each week. Many community members have started to notice this impact and try to come up with initiatives to help slow down this problem that is affecting many individuals and many communities across the state and nation.

So this individual that I am joined with today is Meg Warner, who has created the Bridgerton Beacon, a South Jersey nonprofit media platform, in order to try and promote local news coverage in Bridgerton, New Jersey and the surrounding Cumberland County area. Hi, Meg. This is my mom. Hi, Edie. Thanks for having me. So why did you decide to create the Bridgerton Beacon? So I'm a lawyer. And in March of 2021,

I was in private practice. actually had started a podcast related to the law and I was driving back and forth to Bridgton. Bridgton is my hometown. was born and raised in Bridgton. It's a low income county or town rather in Cumberland County. And it occurred to me that there were a lot of people in the Bridgton area that were doing really great things. A lot of people from Bridgton wanted to talk about how Bridgton used to be.

And I wanted to focus on people, places and things in Bridgeton that were doing really nice things. And so I decided to create a podcast where I would interview folks, long form interviews, and just talk about what was going on. And at that time, when I first started it, it was audio only. And fast forward a couple years, we decided to expand

it to video. We incorporated it. We applied 501c3 status. it is now a nonprofit and we've been trying to grow it. And really the reason that I really decided to start it was because I felt that there was a lack of news in the Bridgton area. Years ago there had been a newspaper called the Bridgton Evening News that was very, very popular. As you mentioned, news

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papers across the country shut down. It was one of those newspapers that shut down. And there had also been a radio station, WSNJ, which has changed hands over the years that everyone listened to. Those forms of communication, radio stations, and in particular newspapers, bring a community together because people can read about what's going on. They can read about new businesses. They can read about things that it makes a town

kind of join together. I felt that that was missing. And so that's why I started it. And it's kind of growing and it's been a really fun thing to do. And we're trying to still grow it. But that's really the reason why I initially started it. So as you have said, there are a lot of positive impacts of having that kind of community coverage and media exposure. So you mentioned a few other platforms that previously

covered news media that cease to exist. So I was just wondering why you think these news media outlets no longer are running or covering news and bridged in. Well, first of all, it's very expensive to run a newspaper. Print media has been dying and that's just in large part due to economy. But also, I would say just due to the fact that a lot of people find it easier to get their news on the internet.

I would imagine the biggest reason why the Bridgton Evening ultimately had to shut down. The benefit to a podcast is that it's free for listeners because we have a website, bridgtonbeacon.com. We air all of our interviews on that website. It's free to listen. We have a YouTube channel that's free to access.

And all of the audio versions of our interviews are also put out as audio only on platforms such as Spotify, iTunes, and others. So it's great for a community like Bridgerton because it doesn't cost anything for people to listen to it. People just have to know about it and share it. We use social media to get the word out. So I actually have a quote taken from the Seattle Times that says,

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While there have been many promising for-profit and non-profit startup online news sites launched in recent years, digital news outlets are closing as quickly as new ones start, leaving no net gain for communities. The impact is worse for rural areas and low-income areas, as there is even less of a philanthropic or subscriber base to make the outlet sustainable. So I find it interesting how you said, you know, you're the Bridgerton Beacon.

listeners don't have to pay to listen to your podcast. So I feel like that is a good kind of motivator for other people to start reporting and start getting involved in their local communities just because I feel like there is a misunderstanding that any sort of, you know, startup media outlet is going to cost a lot of money to start, which is true in part, which adds to the decline. But there are ways that you can get around this or

start something up that isn't going to cost a fortune. Yeah, you can. And there are some costs associated with having a podcast and having a corporation. But for the most part, particularly today with the advent of smartphones, particularly the iPhone, someone could really start a podcast, even a video podcast, just by using their iPhone, by using platforms such as Riverside. And so

there are some costs involved, it's not completely free. And that's why when we decided to incorporate the Bridgerton Beacon, we decided to also apply for 501c3 status because we felt that it was a good, it provided value to the community and we needed to get funding through things like grants and donations and things like that. But I will say this, one of the programs we just finished up this summer was

We got a little bit of grant money from the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission to develop a curriculum to teach disadvantaged youth everything you can do from kind of soup to nuts to start a podcast. There's a lot of planning that goes in, even if you're just going to interview someone kind of off the cuff, there's some work that needs to go into that. And then there's some work on the back end if you want to.

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clean up the audio and take out the ums, take out the yeahs and add some different graphics to it. So we did that and we had great success and that's something we want to continue in the future, primarily because as you said, the more individuals you can get in reporting the news, in conducting interviews, maybe in going out to a sporting event.

For a local high school basketball team or football team you're just gonna get a broader audience and you're gonna make sure that the interviews that you conduct and present really represent that entire community and so That's great. I know it's nice to have you conduct an interview on the birchton beacon Because it gives a fresh perspective not everybody's gonna want to hear just me or my producer

interviewing someone all day long. So that's the only way it can grow. It can only grow if you get a broad kind of base and that way you can grow the viewership and listenership as well and make sure you're really truly serving the community. Yeah, I think that's also an important aspect of it and creating an impact is making sure that you're producing something that community members are going to want to.

look out for and want to be involved in. you're producing things that seem almost dull or uninteresting, people are going to be less likely to engage with that local news and local media coverage, which isn't going to do any good if the whole point of creating these sort of media outlets and local news coverage is to engage community members and get them active and involved. if they're not doing so, then it kind of defeats the purpose.

in a way. Right. Exactly. you know, we try to focus a lot of folks in the Bridgerton area like to talk about history. So we've done some historical type of productions, but I always try to tie it into the present and then the future. The other benefit is that in a town like Bridgerton, there are a lot of small businesses that have started. There's a very large Hispanic

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population and we are able to profile or shine a spotlight on these small businesses that otherwise might not have funding for advertising. I like the long form interview because I think that you get a lot out of a longer type of real back and forth conversation and I often find that usually about midway through the conversation is really where you get the secret sauce to a great conversation.

But then what we can do is we can take that long form interview and we can break it out into shorter clips and post those clips on our different social media, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. And that helps spread the word. If somebody sees a clip that interests them, then they might go to the website or the YouTube channel and listen to the longer form interview. People like their news and

Unfortunately, in today's day and age, they like it in little short bites. that gives us the ability to do that. Yes. And that kind of leads me to the next thing. We have discussed some of the causes of why we think local news is declining. We discussed the rising production costs of print newspapers and also a shift in how people are consuming their news. So you mentioned social media. And in today's age, people are drawn to the clickbait.

journalism at the national level and you know in the local level as well I really do see that that people just want that quick short news and a lot of times it's they're drawn to things that aren't true that are more sensationalist journalism and you know that impacts how people are getting their news and what they're receiving and it impacts the community and the ways that they are receiving and gaining that information and I just wanted to ask

ask you one other question. How do you think the Bridgerton Beacon has impacted the community of Bridgerton? I know you shared one story. I didn't know if you had any others that you wanted to talk about and how that has impacted the community through, you know, your podcasts. Yeah, I mean, we're still a fairly new organization. As I said, we started it in March of 2021 by

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the spring or summer of 2023, we had expanded to video. really think that we have been able to not only shine a spotlight on local businesses that otherwise might not have gotten attention or been able to be, you know, shared with the broader community, but also individuals. like speaking with maybe the

the individual that might not have otherwise gotten recognition. And so I just think it's a matter of drawing the community together by focusing on these kind of personal conversations where the listener can really get a true sense of that particular person. So to answer your question, I'm a member of the Bridgeton Area Chamber of Commerce. I have

been asked on occasion to interview individuals that have been the recipients of awards from the British Navy Chamber of Commerce. There was just an awards dinner last month where they called it the Heroes Award and there were about seven or so individuals and businesses that received awards. I was able to meet with each of those individuals and talk to them. And one of the things that I asked each of them was who or what

motivated you to be the person that you are today. I asked all of the award recipients that same question and it was really neat. We did actually a little video that was shared at the dinner where all of the award recipients answers to that same question. We kind of spliced together into one seven or eight minute video and it was really neat to hear from these people that have been, you know, awarded by the Chamber of Commerce as being

individuals that gave back to the community, but hear from them as to what it was that motivated them. Other people hear that and they think, you know, okay, wow, what can I do to give back to my community? How can I take that lesson that I've heard in this particular interview and apply it to my own life? So I feel like in every single interview that I have conducted over the last couple of years,

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I've gotten like this neat tidbit of wisdom and I find it fascinating. so that's really important to me. The other thing that's near and dear to my heart is I love talking to small business owners about particularly ones that have been very successful about what it is that turns a small business in a town like Bridgerton into a thriving industry. years and years ago,

Bridgeton was home to Owens, Illinois. I think it was one of the largest employers in town for many, many years. And sadly in the, in seventies or so it closed. And that was kind of the beginning of an economic downturn in the city of Bridgeton. But now there are new businesses coming into town for different reasons. And the whole idea is to have those businesses succeed, have them grow. And to the extent that listeners can hear from

business owners that have been successful and maybe take that little nugget of wisdom from them. It just helps everybody. And again, it draws the community closer because again, as I've said, my interviews are fairly interpersonal. They're back and forth. They're very conversational, never scripted. A lot of people ask me, you, we practice? I don't like to script things out. Certainly we have the ability to edit something if someone says or does something that they.

that they aren't happy with, but we've never had to do that. And so it's the idea is that it be kind of a fun way for the community to kind of draw together. so ultimately, I think the next step is the goal of what we've already talked about, and that is get different faces conducting the interviews, you know, hear from the community about what they want to hear about, get younger folks involved. So I would just invite any listeners right now that are interested in

in either journalism or media of any sort that have an interest in getting involved, give a call and we'd be happy to have you part of the team. So, Bridgerton isn't the only area that is being affected by this decrease in local media. Northwestern University has reported that there are over 200 counties that have no local news outlet out of 3,143.

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43 counties in the US, more than half, have either no local news source or only one remaining outlet. And that's typically a weekly newspaper that people we have discussed are just not buying or not really looking into anymore. So these lack of local news outlets around different communities has caused a collapse in voter turnout.

higher rates of corruption, pollution, and corporate crime. So how do you think that local new nonprofit media outlets such as The Bridge and Recon have allowed for citizens to be more informed of local news? I know you've talked a lot about local businesses and things of that nature, but do you have any stories of how local news has been affected? It's really just a matter of staying.

And that is a big challenge to anyone who decides to undertake a podcast or a media outlet that's focused on the news. You really have to remain current. And I've tried to stay on top of things that are going on, but it takes the community to let the news sources know what they want to have advertised, right? So I can try to follow what's going on locally.

and try to get the word out. For example, there is currently a grant program going on through the Love Way of the Library of We've tried to basically advertise that to get the word out. But I'm sure there's a lot of things going on, right? If you don't know about it, you don't know to report on it. So really the idea is the more folks in the community that kind of take ownership of that.

and try to tell us what they want us to report on. That's really the only way long-term it's going to work for a small podcast like the Bridgerton Beacon. It's tough because you've got to be able to cover a broad base of listeners or viewers. You've got all the ages. You've got not just the news, you've got maybe different community programs that are going on.

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It's really for a town like Bridgeton and its surrounding area. A lot of it comes down to a word of mouth. Years ago, the Bridgeton Evening had a column that was written by a gentleman named Jack Hummel, who sadly passed away. Everybody in town would read that article. Your grandmother, mom, mom and granddad religiously read that even after they moved out of town. And the reason why was because it kind of gave little tidbits of things that were going on in the area.

There was a reporter on WSNJ, his name was Paul Hunsberger. He would interview folks like every couple days. That's probably, I would say one of my biggest challenges right now is making sure that I'm covering the things that need to be covered and that it takes a village quite frankly. Because like you said, otherwise, if the community doesn't know what's going on in their community,

on a governmental level, a local business level, on community, local churches, all of that, then nobody's going to get involved. Nobody's going to go out and visit a new restaurant that's opened up in town if they don't know about it. And so I guess that's a really long way of saying that's a tough thing to do. And that's probably in large part why at least print media has really declined so much because of the time effort.

expense. So it's going to take the whole community to get involved. And people can't just always rely on social media to help. It's a it's a platform that's free that's that can be beneficial, but it's it's not the be all end all. so there will absolutely be more misinformation and citizen unawareness if this issue continues to be so prominent. And I'm so happy that the Bridgeton Beacon has helped address this issue.

And I do believe that if you're passionate about saving local journalism, you should consider supporting local news outlets and sharing community news with others, like sharing this podcast with your community. And I think that there's ways that people can get involved, whether that's starting a local newspaper and a school, going to local events, spreading that information with others in your community. So I thank you for your time being here.

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I think what we've discussed is very important. It can seem scary, but there is still hope. We just need to realize the relevance and the importance of the death of local news. And it may seem unimportant to many people, but local news is an essential component of communities. And its presence is very impactful. And it's seen through our discussion how, you know, in your stories, how the spread of local information and the importance of local news can help, you know, spread so much more awareness to others.

I think that any listeners who agree with us and feel passionate about this subject should help be part of the change and advocate for this revival of local news. So I would invite anyone who is interested in getting involved in the Bridgestone Beacon. We focus on the city of Bridgestone, but also the surrounding areas, so really South Jersey. Give a call if you have a business that you want promoted or an individual that you think we should focus on. Because like you said, Edie, it's really important that

our community know what's going on and get involved in sharing all of the good neat things that are happening in our local area and local community. So thanks for taking the time to interview me about this topic. I'm passionate about it and I'm glad to hear that you are too. Thank you. So yeah, anyone who's listening should check out the Bridgton Beacon and if you want to help promote an initiative to help one of the many low-income communities that are currently lacking local media coverage.

you definitely should reach out. So my name is Edie Horner. I was joined with Ned Horner and we hope you enjoyed this episode. Together we can help ensure that local stories continue to be told. Thank you, Edie.