KEYSTONE LAKE — From Oct. 4-10, newspapers across the state are celebrating local journalism and the role it continues to play in the communities they serve.
This year, we are marking the week by taking readers behind the scenes and introducing the people who help produce your newspaper, the team that covers city hall, school boards, ballgames, businesses, public notices, community events and everything in between.
Research has repeatedly shown that local journalism does more than report the news. It can have a measurable effect on how communities function.
A 2020 study published in the Journal of Financial Economics examined municipal finances following newspaper closures. Researchers Pengjie Gao, Chang Lee and Dermot Murphy found borrowing costs increased by 5 to 11 basis points after a local newspaper closed, resulting in an estimated additional cost of about $650,000 on an average bond issue.
The study, “Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance,” also found increases in government wages and deficits following closures. Researchers pointed to reduced government oversight as one possible explanation.
Another study, “Do Newspapers Matter? Short-Run and Long-Run Evidence from the Closure of The Cincinnati Post,” found lower voter turnout, fewer candidates running for municipal office and a higher likelihood of incumbent reelection in communities that had relied heavily on the newspaper.
Other research has linked newspaper closures with increased nationalization of political behavior, while Pew Research Center has found a strong connection between regular local-news use and civic engagement.
Local newspapers remain an important source of information about city councils, school boards, budgets, elections, taxes, public notices and other issues that directly affect residents. Pew Research Center has found newspapers ranked first or tied for first among the sources Americans relied on most for 11 of 16 types of local information, particularly in areas such as local government and taxes.
But local journalism is not only about government oversight.
It is also about putting the football player on the front page after a big win.
It is about photographing the homecoming court, recognizing the student who earned an award, telling the story of a new business, recording a retirement and making sure the names of the people who make up a community are not overlooked.
That work takes people. Inside this week’s edition, readers can meet the publishers, reporters, editors, photographers, advertising staff and others who help put the newspaper together each week.
They are the people who sit through the meetings, ask the questions, check the facts, take the photographs, design the pages, sell the ads and make sure the paper gets into readers’ hands.
They help keep governments accountable.
They help communities informed.
And, whenever possible, they help make sure the hometown team gets the front page recognition it deserves.