news deserts
Journalism-free zones emerge
News deserts are geographic areas—typically rural communities or low-income urban neighborhoods—that lack local journalism coverage.
When newspapers close or consolidate, residents lose access to reporting on local government, schools, and community events.
The term frames this absence as a kind of civic deprivation: Small towns across the Midwest have become news deserts.
- mediaInformation distribution channels
- journalismNews gathering and dissemination
- localOf this area
- coverageExtent of inclusion
- newspapersPrinted daily publications
beat reporter · rural · underserved · community · Main Street · reporting · broadcast · shutdown · decline · void · access · information · civic · democracy · civic engagement · accountability · small-town · forgotten
- journalismreporters, interview, editors, student editors, school paper
- pressnewspaper, press laws, free press, newsroom, press cards
- digital journalismonline journalism, digital media, digital platforms, e-newspapers, online editions
- media ethicsjournalism ethics, media ethics, media bias, journalistic ethics, journalistic integrity