News Deserts

 

News Deserts

What is it?

Before the EOTO presentations, I have never heard of news deserts. My classmate Cailee shared her presentation on them and I learned so much from her. News deserts are areas in the country or other places around the world that don't have access to news coverage. While of course, they can have online service from radio stations and their phone, the overall news coverage is not there. Cailee shared a quote from the Center of Innovation that defined news deserts as, "a community, either rural or urban, with limited access to the sort of credible and comprehensive news and information that feeds democracy at the grassroots level." 

Why is this a Problem?

I learned how news deserts have been around for a while now, as there are always parts of the country that don't have news coverage. A big issue is how these deserts are growing around the country. Meaning fewer and fewer people are receiving the information they need. A huge part of this issue is how newspapers are becoming less popular. This could be a big part of the growth of news deserts. Cailee had shared how if we continue at this rate the United States could lose around 1/3 of all of its newspapers by 2025. That fact really stood out to me as I always remember how popular newspapers were when I was younger as my parents and grandparents would always receive them and read them all the time. 

What can we do?

Cailee talked about a good amount of solutions to this problem. From adding back more newspapers to focusing on the funding of news stations. She mentioned how there are many possible solutions, however, with these solutions come challenges. One solution that really stuck out to me was turning to digital media. I feel this solution is the way our society is heading, however, there are so many issues with this solution. A lot of the areas that are victims of news deserts don't have high-speed internet. As well as the fact that these individuals in these areas would have to have electronic devices that can allow them to see news. This is becoming more and more popular with smartphones, older generations may not be up to date with this and suffer because of it.