NewsBeat

16 NewsBeat August 2018 Civic engagement declines when local newspapers shut down t's not news that it's tough times for the newspaper industry. A March 2018 study published in the Newspaper Research Journal finds that from 2004 to 2015, the U.S. newspaper industry lost over 1,800 print outlets as a result of closures and mergers. Journalists suffer layoffs and buyouts; and readers are left in a decimated news landscape, with local papers coming under the ownership of larger publishers focused on their business interests, or ceasing to exist entirely. Scholars are studying what these closures might mean for the public in terms of political engagement and government accountability. Studies have found that areas with fewer local news outlets and declining coverage also have lower levels of civic engagement and voter turnout. On the other hand, studies show that areas with more local coverage tend to have increased turnout in local elections and lower I spending on discretionary municipal projects. These findings suggest newspapers might play a role in encouraging political participation and accountability. A new working paper lends further evidence, finding that newspaper closures are linked with increased municipal borrowing costs and decreased government efficiency. Journalist's Resource has summarized these studies that show why it's important to keep local news alive. "Financing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance" Summary: This working paper looks at associations between local newspaper closures and municipal borrowing costs. It analyzes daily newspaper data from 1996 to 2015 in U.S. counties with three or fewer newspapers. Of the 1,596 newspapers studied, 296 folded, merged with other papers or stopped publishing on a daily basis. "Our main finding is that newspaper closures have a significantly adverse impact on municipal borrowing costs. Specifically, following the three-year period after a newspaper closure, municipal bond yields in the secondary market increase by 6.4 basis points, while offering yields increase by 5.5 basis points." In other words, it becomes more expensive for these localities to borrow money. The authors suggest this might be "because potential lenders have greater difficulty evaluating the quality of public projects and the government officials in charge of these projects" in the absence of local papers. The study also found increased government inefficiencies, such as higher wage rates and numbers of employees per capita, in the absence of daily newspapers — additional indicators of the role local papers play in public accountability. By CHLOE REICHEL

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