EDITOR'S NOTE: This editorial has been adapted from one that originally published March 19, 2023. Sunshine Week — a celebration of access to public, particularly government, information — ended last week. Most years, we would have highlighted Sunshine Week either before it started or ...
by Kevin Frazier Investigative journalism, which is critical to a healthy democracy, comes at a high cost. The return on investment, though, is substantial. Ida Tarbell’s willingness to dig into Standard Oil’s egregious business practices bolstered efforts to pass the Clayton ...
West Virginia is surprisingly lucky when it comes to local news: All but two of our 55 counties have some kind of local publication, according to recent research by Northwestern University and the Medill Local News Initiative. The good news: With the exception of Putnam and Marshall ...
The pace at which community newspapers are going out of business is increasing. Axios reports, “The decline of local newspapers accelerated so rapidly in 2023 that analysts now believe the U.S. will have lost one-third of the newspapers it had as of 2005 by the end of next year — rather ...
by Dean Ridings A recent Gallup study showed that American’s confidence in the national mass media has reached a near record low. While that’s disturbing, it’s not unexpected. The digital age has brought a barrage of national news sources that are focused on sound bites, ...
by Dean Ridings Americans have more media options than ever. We are inundated with stories, memes, videos and promotions 24 hours a day. Most of us are on social media, which is built to provide an endless feed of content to keep us glued to our screens. And unfortunately, ...