The Rise of a New Media Baron and the Emerging Threat of News Deserts

Over the past decade, a new media baron has emerged that is very different from the publishers that preceded it. The rise of this new media baron coincides with immense disruption in the newspaper industry. With profits and readership declining dramatically, newspaper publishers are grappling with an uncertain future, and many worry about their paper’s long-term survival. As a result, many smaller cities and towns could lose their local newspapers and with them the reliable news and information essential to a community’s quality of life and democratic institutions. This report, published by the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, considers the significant political, social, and economic consequences of the emergence of “news deserts” across entire regions of the country.