Newspapers can be vibrant. We’re seeing it in rural America.
An analysis of scholarly articles exploring news deserts offers insights into opportunities and challenges of newsrooms seeking long-term financial sustainability in Iowa and Appalachia.
In the United States, the internet and social media have transformed the journalistic landscape. These days Americans get their news from social media, snubbing traditional mediums such as newspapers in the process. As a result of this technological shift, Big Tech has siphoned ad revenue from local media, forcing local newspapers to get creative to stay afloat.
Two media scholars who specialize in researching local news produced papers for the Center for Journalism and Liberty about the news ecosystems in rural America. As ad revenue in those regions has declined sharply, newspapers have been forced to become creative — to both survive and to continue to serve their communities.
Christopher Martin, a professor at the University of Northern Iowa, located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, wrote about how Iowa newspapers have become vibrant during an era in which revenue has shriveled in news organizations nationwide. Martin has written several books about the press, most recently writing “No Longer Newsworthy: How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class” in 2019. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan and previously taught at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Michael Clay Carey, a tenured professor at Samford University, located in Homewood, Ala., researched journalism in Appalachia and interviewed reporters and community leaders about the challenges and successes of reporting the news in their communities. He wrote The News Untold: Community Journalism and the Failure to Confront Poverty in Appalachia in 2017. Carey previously worked for the Tennessean, a Gannett paper based in Nashville, and earned a doctoral degree from Ohio University.
Martin’s paper examined how various Iowa newspapers have weathered the challenges of the internet transformation and decline of print subscriptions. Ownership models vary by size, location, longevity and more; for instance, Gannett, the nation’s largest chain, operates the Des Moines Register, the state’s largest paper, while the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Iowa’s second largest paper, is employee-owned.
An excerpt from Martin’s conversation with Columbia Journalism Review Nov. 18, 2020: “So the problem for lack of local competition (or — and we haven’t talked about this yet — news deserts, where there is no news media at all) is in part because of these noncompetitive environments at the top of the digital environment. I’d prefer a thriving local news company than none at all. Otherwise, people just have national news, or their own digitally created personal rabbit-holes in social media. Scary alternatives!”
Iowa newspapers have a long history as community pillars, but in recent years, some have shown signs of crumbling. The Register has been one of Iowa’s most notable civic institutions — even beyond Iowa’s role among presidential hopefuls. Based in Des Moines, Iowa’s capital (and most populous) city, the Register maintains a statewide footprint, exemplified by RAGBRAI, the paper’s registered trademark abbreviation for the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Around Iowa. The newspaper’s purchases of other media outlets in the 1970s, combined with becoming a Gannett acquisition in 1985, has harmed the enterprise in many ways. Circulation is down by almost 77% since 2002, and the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified problems. Even amid a global health crisis, Gannett’s mandatory furlough sidelined Register health reporter Barbara Rodriguez.
Though perhaps not to the Register’s degree, other newspapers statewide have also seen declining revenues. As one of only three employee-owned papers in the U.S., the Gazette has avoided some issues that have plagued the Register, retaining a larger newsroom staff relative to its circulation. It also avoided layoffs and furloughs in the early stages of the pandemic.
Following a 2019 merger of smaller local papers, the Southeast Iowa Union debuted, at first facing subscriber reluctance. But the model of combining smaller newspapers in a small region has been successful. It’s not the only model that has worked for smaller newspapers in the state, however. In Iowa Falls, diversifying into other businesses has helped the Times-Citizen stay afloat.
“I know regulators have long been wary of duopolies,” Martin said in an exchange with CJR, “but in small towns, the newspaper-radio combo can be very helpful. It’s too hard to slice up a small market these days.”
Martin offered two solutions that might help Iowa newspapers remain viable. He urged other newspapers to consider the Gazette’s employee-ownership model, thereby keeping management and control in local hands. He also suggested a federal policy change, advocating for free postal distribution for papers, a strategy owners he interviewed agreed would bring financial relief especially among papers whose subscribers live in less populated communities.
Carey, whose campus is in suburban Birmingham, conducted 23 interviews in producing his research. As a result, he outlined challenges facing publications across the region, including residents’ lower median household incomes and higher poverty rates, especially compared with many other rural areas in the United States. The region is home to major cities like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Asheville, North Carolina, but also hamlets in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains.
While household income has edged up in recent years, Appalachia often is portrayed negatively in pop culture and in media, with parachuting reporters describing the area as as largely white, poor and backward. These distorted outside representations can help shape national policy and broader social ideas about Appalachia that can be detrimental to regional development.
Local media has long combatted the prevailing narrative by collaborating with communities and other media outlets to share stories. However, much like in Iowa, COVID-19 has hit hard in the area, and the pandemic elevated the role and importance of local news coverage.
An excerpt from Carey’s conversation with Columbia Journalism Review Nov. 17, 2020:“If a journalist is part of the community she or he covers, then that person is in a better position to recognize local issues and problems, understand local voices, and respond to local needs.”
In his paper, Carey discussed Appalachia’s rich history of investigative journalism. As watchdogging is extremely time and labor intensive, it has declined over the years both in Appalachia and across the United States, given slimmer margins and Americans’ increasingly reliance on social media to stay informed.
Carey concluded with suggestions to make journalism more vibrant, advocating for collaborations among newsrooms and local media ownership; he also applauded local groups toiling to revitalize the region’s journalistic tradition of environmental reporting and financial investigations.
Both of Carey’s proposals have found some success in Iowa, and may offer possible roadmaps to struggling organizations in Appalachia and elsewhere. As newsrooms search for long-term financial stability, a thoughtful reading of these nuanced papers may provide options for embattled newspapers nationwide, whether owned by individuals or corporations. As the internet strengthens as a necessary tool for 21st century living, news organizations must focus on meeting the needs of the news consumers in evolutionary — even revolutionary — ways.
Visit the hyperlinks to read Christopher Martin’s “What Makes Iowa Newspapers Resilient?” and Michael Clay Carey’s “Local News and Community Resiliency in Appalachia.”
Claire O’Brien, a journalism major at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, reported this story while an autumn 2020 intern with the Center for Journalism & Liberty.
