Life at Small Market Newspapers in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic

11 emerging findings from a forthcoming report for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism (Columbia Journalism School)

In late summer 2020, Tow Fellow Damian Radcliffe and research assistant Ryan Wallace conducted an online survey capturing the experience of life at local newspapers during COVID-19.

The work builds on Radcliffe’s previous Tow Center fellowship in 2016–17, where he and Dr. Christopher Ali undertook a similar survey, as well as a wide ranging landscape study, both of which explored the health of small market newspapers. Combined, the research offered strategies to preserve and enhance local news, as well as an in-depth analysis of life in a sector that comprises around 97% of the total newspapers published in the U.S.

Below is a summary of the key findings from this new research over the course of the past year. Their full report will be published in the fall.

The observations in this report are based on an online survey conducted between August 4, 2020 and September 8, 2020.

We received 324 eligible responses from a mix of editors, reporters, publishers, and other roles at small-scale local newspapers in the United States. We…