The State of Local News
The problem and why it matters.
As part of my role at Pana MIA, I disseminate local happenings, news, and things important to our community. Do we have any events approaching? Maybe a meaningful local election is around the corner. What’s happening with the Miami bridge project? The tri-county area is busy, heavily populated, and near impossible to keep up with.
To accurately navigate the world around them, people need to be informed. This is the role journalism plays in a functional society. Journalists serve as watchdogs for power, challenging and unearthing corruption, and in turn, protect the interests of the layman. But that role is not only under attack but also shrinking.
Since 2002, the population of the US has increased by over 100 million, while the number of journalists has shrunken by 75%. A joint project between the journalism platform Muckrack and the nonprofit Rebuild Local News unveiled just how bad the situation across the country is.
In 2002, there were about 40 local journalists per 100,000 residents, down to about 10 now. In Florida, the numbers are even worse, with just under 6 local journalists per 100,000 residents. Palm Beach County is one of the worst in the entire country, with just over two and a half journalists. Broward and Dade are better, but only Broward is above the national average of local journalists with 8.7 journalists per 100,000 residents.
“The gap is noticeable,” Tyler Chapman of the Lake Worthian tells Pana MIA Post, “ We want to fill it but it’s not easy.”
When local news dries up, so does civic engagement and local democracy. Corruption grows, and people are less informed. Kleis Nielsen’s 2015 book “Local Journalism: The Decline of Newspapers and the Rise of Digital Media” details research suggesting that “even with its deficiencies, local journalism helps reduce government corruption, increases the responsiveness of elected officials to their constituents, and encourages public participation in local politics.”
After the internet boom in the early 2000s, news organizations were slow to adapt, with dwindling funding from advertisers and shrinking subscription sales. In the first quarter of the 21st century, more than 3500 newspapers have vanished off the map in the US. Circulation has also declined, with print circulation down 70% since 2005, and unique online viewers down 40%.
This is part of a larger shift away from accessible, local information. In mid-July, Congress voted to reduce funding for public broadcasting services, including NPR and PBS. The cut shuttered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, removing $1.1 billion in funding. Larger NPR and PBS stations will be able to weather the storm. Still, smaller stations, covering more remote sections of the US, will likely close without outside intervention, growing the already massive news desert.
But something can and will fill that gap. It won’t have the same safeguards or journalistic care as traditional journalism, but instead will push partisan politics. It’s called “pink slime” journalism.
Traditional journalism, while not without its flaws, at least strives for objectivity and truth-telling. “Pink slime” journalism, in contrast, while not explicitly fake news, skews events, facts, and data to paint a picture that might omit aspects of truth.
The name pink slime is a nod to the cheap and mass-produced “beef” in fast food. It’s not appetizing, but in a pinch, it’ll satiate your hunger. Pink slime news can satiate information gaps in a pinch, much in the same way.
According to a New York-based news analysis organization, NewsGuard, as of July 2024, pink slime publications outnumber remaining daily news publications 1265 to 1216. NewsGuard analysts previously identified a network of 167 news sites operating as part of a sophisticated pro-Russia disinformation network.
“It is as pernicious as any of the other contributing causes to this local news crisis because it undermines the legitimate hand-woven truths of local news organizations struggling to survive,” said Charlie Sennott, publisher of the Martha’s Vineyard Times and cofounder of Report for America, which assigns reporters to local newsrooms around the country.
These are publications that likely have no stake in local communities, and in some cases aren’t even in the United States. An example is North Boston News, which, according to Dan Kennedy, a professor of journalism at Northeastern University and co-author of a book called “What Works in Community News,” is obviously fake to anyone familiar with Boston.
“You ever been to North Boston? They say it’s lovely this time of year,’’ he joked. “I mean, whoever’s behind this isn’t even putting in the effort to establish true local identities. But the point is, these can be weaponized and used for political propaganda at some point.”
These organizations are currently limited in reach and political power, though they’re growing. One of the largest players is Metric Media, which posits to “Give Every Citizen a Voice.” They operate North Boston News, as well as 58 other publications across New England.
In Florida, Metric Media has 50 publications, including the Sunshine Sentinel (similar to the local paper, the Sun Sentinel), the Miami Courant, and at least eight more throughout South Florida. A glance at the sites shows targeted coverage of local politicians like Rep. María Elvira Salazar in the Miami Courant, Carlos A. Gimenez in the Key West Reporter, and Mario Díaz-Balart in the North Miami-Dade News. Each is almost exclusive on each of the sites, and each is Republican. Any other news highlights local high school sports and local alumni in professional sports leagues.
Metric Media lists no leadership, but journalism researchers have linked Brian Timpone, a conservative former TV reporter, known for his defunct journalism shell company, Journatic. The media hub is most well-known for giving airtime to 2020 election deniers, asserting that the election was stolen.
The ethics question of AI-generated content is also part of this conversation, as Metric Media autogenerates around 98% of its content according to a 2021 report by the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy. There were massive spikes in human-written stories during the 2020 election cycle.
This is a complicated issue. Much of the reporting by organizations like Metric Media is technically factual and does offer insight into local news, which is desperately needed. But as in 2020, these publications can be mobilized for political means.
Beyond that, the existence of pink slime publications erodes public trust in traditional media establishments. The media ecosystem becomes an ouroborus, eating its own tail. This pushes more people to social media, influencers, and organizations with ulterior motives. And we continue the descent into misinformation.
Serving as a community resource, at Pana MIA, we aim to combat this wave and contribute to a healthier news ecosystem. We don’t pretend to be the solution to everything wrong with journalism, but we plan on platforming amazing local journalists, as well as publications throughout South Florida.
We’re already establishing networks of support for local journalists and publications, and have plans for the coming year. In all the work we do, we aim to uplift the community, and this is just another extension of that.