How a lack of local news affected people during the pandemic
Storefront office for the Rantoul Press in downtown Rantoul in September 2020. Jim Meadows/IPM News
Based on a report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, this nation will have lost a third of the newspapers it had in 2005.
According to the same report, as of last year, five counties in Illinois didn't have any sources of local news, and more than 30 counties only had one.
This obviously makes it difficult to be up-to-date on local news, especially for those in rural areas. We'll focus on how that lack of local news affects both people today, and those who tried to find resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
GUESTS:
Nikki Usher
Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of San Diego
Former Professor in Journalism Department at UIUC's College of Media