What effect do newspaper closings really have on a town? Or a nation? Depending on a person's reading habits, the answers to these questions range from "It's the death of democracy!" to "Newspapers? What newspapers?" ...
A glimpse into what might happen has been offered up by a new study out of Princeton University. Assistant Professor of economics and public affairs Sam Schulhofer-Wohl and Miguel Garrido looked at communities affected by the closing of the Cincinnati Post at the end of 2007, and it's not an attractive view....
...in towns the Post regularly covered, voter turnout dropped, fewer people ran for office and more incumbents were reelected. That is, when there were fewer stories about a given town, its inhabitants seemed to care less about how they're being governed.
[From What Happens When a Town Loses Its Newspaper? - TIME]
Next? Here's TIME's list of the "10 most endangered newspapers in America."
3 comments:
...and it's former editor might wind up as a cub reporter for an obscure blog.
Remind me to let TIME know. They missed that little fact.
Whadya mean "obscure"?!
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