BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Nationwide, the decline in local newspapers has been dramatic.
By the end of this year, almost a third of the newspapers publishing 20 years ago will be gone. Some of the 6,000 remaining, like the once-dominant Burlington Free Press, are a shadow of their former selves. The shuttering of print publications and the hemorrhaging of jobs in journalism are blamed on the rise of social media and a subsequent major drop in advertising revenue, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic. Today, hundreds of counties across the country are considered news deserts, with no local news coverage at all. That means less accountability for public officials and a less informed community.
In the latest edition of 802 News sponsor, Mark Johnson spoke with Seven Days reporter Colin Flanders about the analysis he and his colleague, Kevin McCollum, conducted about the health of print media in Vermont — it’s not a pretty picture, with many news organizations fighting for their financial survival.