Where Are Colorado’s News Deserts and What Are the Implications?
Since 2004, more than 1,800 newspapers — representing about one out of every five newspapers nationwide — have shut down. Half of the nation’s 3,143 counties have only one newspaper, usually a weekly, and almost 200 counties have no paper at all.
Colorado has experienced a similar decline. The state lost 33 newspapers — almost one out of every five of our papers — between 2004 and 2019, including the Rocky Mountain News in 2009.
While most professional local news outlets — newspapers, television and radio stations, and online-only news sources — provide residents with some original, local coverage of eight critical issues as defined by the FCC, it is important to focus on newspapers because they still produce the majority of local coverage, even with their reduced staff levels. An August 2019 Duke University content analysis comparing journalistic output across all media formats found that newspapers still produce nearly 60% of the stories categorized by the study as original, local coverage of critical issues, while accounting for just roughly 25% of local outlets.
(Note that while most newspaper articles, as well as television and radio stories, are distributed online as well as in their original medium, this study looks at the original format of the news source that reported and published each story.)
82% of stories published by online-only local news sources address critical information needs, and the number and significance of online-only outlets are growing.
However, online-only local news sources perform extremely well in terms of the proportion of their story output that addresses critical information needs (over 80%), the study notes, and their numbers and significance are growing. But currently, online-only news sources remain a relatively small component of most local media ecosystems in the U.S., and this is especially true in communities outside Colorado’s Front Range. Currently, newspapers still provide the primary workforce keeping local, nonpartisan journalism alive in most of the U.S., though online-only outlets seem to hold the most promise for mission-driven journalism, if they can reach scale.
Because newspapers continue to play such an important role in meeting the local information needs of communities, tracking their decline is not just a question of job losses in a struggling industry; it is a harbinger of community losses.
It’s rural and low-income areas that are often left without local news and journalism when papers close, and there is no source of news and information to fill that gap. Located in the southeastern corner of Colorado, Baca County currently has no newspaper and is one of the most rural and economically distressed counties in Colorado. Baca’s median family income is about half that of the state’s as a whole, while its poverty rate is twice as high. The county lost almost 7% of its population over the past decade while the rest of the state was growing by 11%.
Another 30 Colorado counties have only one newspaper. Eighty-three percent of these papers are only published weekly and have an average circulation of 3,701. Most — 83% — serve residents in non-metro areas, with 40% located in Colorado’s most rural counties.
Most of these rural newspapers have an average total circulation that reaches a large portion of their county’s population. For example, 60% reach at least half of residents in their county, and 40% reach almost all residents (more than 90%). Clearly, the residents in these counties rely on these papers for their local news and would be hard-pressed to find another source if they closed.
The 30 newspapers in this group tend to be small businesses. 43% are owned by people with only one newspaper, and another 13% are owned by small chains based in Colorado.
As newspapers close and no reliable news sources take their place, communities can turn into news deserts where residents lack access to vital information about local activities, government operations, and economic opportunities. The 30 counties in Colorado with only one newspaper are teetering on the verge of becoming news deserts.
Meanwhile, some outlets have become what researchers call “ghost papers,” which The New York Times described as “spectral incarnations of once-thick publications able to haul in cash even as they lack the deep reporting that once made them essential to their communities. These phantoms have hung on because print revenue, while in steep decline, still brought in more than $25 billion nationally last year.”
Residents with no independent local news source have to rely on unvetted social media, government sources, commercial public relations, and statewide or national media outlets for their daily news. These sources rarely cover day-to-day activities in local communities, leaving residents with few or no independent, reliable, trustworthy sources for local accountability journalism.
At least 44 Colorado newspapers have owners who are approaching retirement age and may be or will be looking to sell their papers and exit the business, according to a Colorado Press Association estimate.
Keeping existing news sources open and operating is one way of preventing more communities from becoming news deserts. Jill Farschman, CEO of the Colorado Press Association (CPA), says that most local newspaper owners are committed to the mission of community journalism and are continuously seeking ways to modernize and improve their operations,though many lack access to capital or technical expertise to do so. Technical expertise or incentives could help these businesses make the necessary investments to
transform their businesses for the digital age, or transfer ownership to mission-oriented individuals or organizations that are committed and able to do so.
Stimulating innovation in the sector could also help. This could include helping new local media outlets launch or helping existing news organizations transform and thrive, by encouraging journalistic entrepreneurship at the local level.
Without some intervention, more Colorado communities are likely to join the growing list of those that have no independent local news source.
(Rocky Mountain PBS)
Many people associate news deserts with rural areas. But researchers also have found substantial differences in the quantity and quality of the local journalism produced within communities of different sizes and income levels. Low-income, minority, and marginalized communities in both metro and rural areas are more likely to lack access to local news and journalism than are white, affluent communities. Stories about marginalized communities also may be overlooked by the power structures, processes, and people who decide what is covered by the media.
A survey and focus groups of New Jersey residents conducted by Free Press and the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University found that those with lower incomes were more critical of the quality of the local coverage of their communities. Focus groups found that they were frustrated by the lack of focus on positive aspects of their communities and lamented the cutbacks in existing newspapers that resulted in fewer stories and less robust coverage of local issues.
