When a small town loses a newspaper, the damage can be both obvious and subtle.
This is a case study from educator and former journalist Andrew Conte in his new book, The Death of the Daily News: How Citizen Gatekeepers Save Local Journalism (University of Pittsburgh Press).
University of Pittsburgh Press
The newspaper in question is the McKeesport Daily News, which closed in 2015 after operating for 131 years in its Monvalley city center. Formerly Pittsburgh he was an investigative reporter for the Tribune his review and now The Point He is Park University Media He is Director of the Innovation Center I considered.
Today, McKeesport is home to about 19,000 inhabitants, but on the eve of World War II it was a manufacturing powerhouse nicknamed “Tube City”, so it tripled that number. There was a nearby population. The Daily News (whose eventual owner was Trib Total Media, a local conglomerate) survived the collapse of heavy industry in the region. However, like many other local newspapers across the country, it has not survived the decline in advertising revenue and subscribers as we enter the digital age.
However, “Death of the Daily News” is not a business postmortem. Rather, Conte called on members of the community, from politicians such as state senator Jim Brewster and mayor Michael Cherepko, to business owners and neighbors on how the closure of the newspaper affected them. I got
“People didn’t fully realize what they were getting from newspapers until they were gone,” Conte said.
“Some officials were like, ‘This is great. No one is looking over our shoulders anymore. No one is going to ask hard questions,'” Conte said. “But at the same time, nobody advertises everything you do.”
Perhaps less predictably, the closing of the newspaper stripped away some of the town’s connective tissue. We know fish fry and births and deaths and little school activities and things we’ve taken for granted are happening. But…the disappearance of stories about them creates these gaps. And people are at a loss and frustrated. ”
Tanner Knapp
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University of Pittsburgh Press
Humans naturally crave and exchange information, so new tools have emerged to fill those gaps. But filling the holes won’t be easy, says Conte. For example, Facebook’s Nearby pages are subject to false claims, unsolicited anecdotes, and misleading gossip. Professional or expertly guided newsgathering agencies have emerged in McKeesport. Tube City Online (founded by former reporter Jason Togyer) covers local government issues there. Also, Conte’s own media his innovation his center itself helps citizens create original stories and photos through his initiative McKeesport his community his newsroom.
But many people don’t have web access. And even the most dedicated community volunteers will have a hard time matching the range and thorough coverage McKeesport gets from a fully staffed daily.
“Now we have a lot of small pieces,” Conte said. “So if people want to know what’s going on, they can figure it out, but it takes more effort.”
The book’s title, Citizen’s Gatekeeper, evokes the notion of traditional media gatekeepers, such as the small-town newspaper correspondent profiled in a fascinating Boston University report in 1949. let National and international news read by nearly 30,000 subscribers who admit to whimsy and prejudices.
Today’s media still employs such high-level gatekeepers, but especially for consumers who stick to a single news source, journalism from countless outlets shared on social media ) makes the whole situation relatively chaotic. According to Conte, citizens also become gatekeepers when they share such news, thoughtfully or indiscriminately. And citizens become “citizen journalists” whenever they personally collect and disseminate information.
“Anyone with a smartphone or a laptop computer can become a broadcaster or a publisher,” Conte said. “So I talk about the Peter Parker principle. [as in] Spider-Man – “With great power comes great responsibility” And that’s something we all have to accept as content creators. We create content all the time, but we must use that power responsibly. ”
But while civic gatekeepers may have the power to “save journalism,” as Conte puts it, trained journalists may need help, he said.
“As professional journalists, we have the ability and responsibility to work with citizens at this time to help them do their jobs better,” Conte said.
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