News Deserts Spreading Through South Carolina and Across America: What They Are, Where We Are and What’s To Come?
News Deserts: The Origin
Barren, desolate, abandoned. At first glance, one may think these words are being used to describe a deserted meadow that bears no fruit or running water, but in reality it perfectly captures the state of local journalism in many cities across America.
The term used to describe these areas of the country are ‘news deserts.’ According to the University of San Francisco Glesson Library, the phrase dates back to 2011 with the Columbia Journalism Review defining the terms as, an uncovered geographical area that has few or no news outlets and receives little coverage. The center for innovation and sustainability in Local Media defines the term as, a community, either rural or urban, with limited access to the sort of credible and comprehensive news.
“In the state of South Carolina, we’ve about seen eight newspapers closed or shutdown” says Nate Abraham, publisher of the Carolina Panorama newspaper and board member of the South Carolina Press Association.
Nate Abraham has been in the print industry for over three decades and has watched the once booming business begin to break off into smaller and smaller pieces, leaving some communities with very little to no original reporting at all. Abraham describes the making of a ‘news desert’ by saying, “A lot of it basically is there’s not enough revenue coming in, for instance, you have a town that has one or two large businesses and they close and so now the businesses can’t advertise anymore, a lot of their people can’t buy subscriptions so that way the paper may fail. Some areas are economically down and so they just can’t support the paper with advertising anymore.”
Poynter reveals a study done by a professor at Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The research points out that among hundreds of closing announcements, mergers and cutbacks along with advertising and revenue coming to a halt, that a quarter of US newspapers have died over the last decade and a half.
The study draws from 15 years of data tracking newspapers, digital sites and hundreds of broadcasting outlets. Abraham goes onto share the consequence a community faces of not having local journalism rooted in the area saying, “You don’t have reporters going to community meetings, you don’t have people watching how given entities are spending tax payer funds, you don’t have anybody reporting on public officials making side deals doing one thing or another. So for all these communities the newspaper is the only thing really informing people what’s going on, so when a community loses that then the ‘watch out’ function the newspaper use to cover is gone.”
An interactive map was created for consumers to be able to view their region of the country, their state and specific community to see if they lived in a ‘news desert’ while giving the consumer the ability to also do a compare and contrast to other areas around the country. Right now in the U.S. 200 counties do not have a local newspaper and half of all counties have only one newspaper and that’s usually a weekly.
“Journalism has always been a very important player in this community” says Cecil Williams Orangeburg county and civil rights historian. Williams rememberers being a teenager in rural South Carolina and speaks on the important role papers played not just for his region but in the Black community saying, “Largely the mainstream newspapers and radio at that time and the emerging television technology really did not report on the African American community.”
A former editor of JET magazine, a weekly publication that began in the 50’s and ended it’s circulation in 2014, Williams in real time saw the impact that local journalism, stemming from community papers, had in the wake of changing hearts and minds in the era of Jim Crow. The historian credits the local paper along with its open minded staff with, “Setting the pace and the temple of what the community should do towards accepting African Americans playing a full role as citizen in the community.” He goes on to say, “Not only with voting but going to restaurants where we formerly before the mid 1960’s could not go and also participating in any activities in the community.”
To learn more about the history of civil rights in Orangeburg click on this link for a tour the community’s civil rights museum. https://www.cecilwilliams.com
But what does the full landscape of today’s local journalism look like? A question that consumes Mr. Williams if the climate with papers is coming to a crumble who picks up the slack?
News Deserts: Where We Are Now
It would be accurate to say ‘news deserts’ have consumed America, but what does that really mean? How is it physically manifested?
Research from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, breaks down the current impact of ‘news deserts’ as it relates to the numbers. According to the data collected, since the fall of 2018 more than 300 papers have failed, totaling the amount of papers lost to 2100, which is almost 25% of the 9,000 papers that were being published across the country back in 2004.
The research also shows that some 80 community digital news sites, some for profit and some nonprofit have been started but an equal number have gone out of business. The data indicates that there was a belief in the late 2000’s and into the next decade that the majority of local news sites established would eventually be able to operate solely based off of digital revenue. “You’re replacing print dollars with digital pennies” says Nate Abraham, publisher of the Carolina Panorama newspaper and board member of the South Carolina Press Association.
The publisher goes on to explain how it isn’t as easy to replace papers with a completely digital option due to revenue saying, “Even though it cost a lot to print and distribute the paper the revenue that the paper brings in usually covers the cost, with digital you can run an ad but it’s pennies on the dollar if you compare it to what you get in print” says Abraham. The research indicates that the number of communities that had their own papers when the tracking of data that started in 2004 and now have no original reporting in any capacity has decreased from 1800 to 1300. The downfall has mostly impacted economically challenged rural areas but does it really make a difference?
Harold Young is the administrator of Orangeburg county. Orangeburg is a predominantly rural area and is the second largest county in the state of South Carolina. Young, who has been in the administrator position for several years and has lived in the county practically all of his life sees the difference local journalism makes especially with an area of that magnitude. “When people do those embedded type journalism and community journalism pieces it gives us a better awareness of what’s going on in our community that sometimes we didn’t even know because with a 1100 square miles, we can be just as disconnected as we are connected…because we have 17 towns that we deal with”says Young.
Although being the second largest county in the state of South Carolina, the area only has one major news paper, The Times and Democrat. Founded in 1881, the paper has been the main source for news for well over a century but even they have gone through their cut backs and consolidations from reduction to staff to reduction to hours, however the area is not considered a ‘news desert’ but Young says the coronavirus has highlighted an informational crisis plaguing consumers especially in rural areas. He says, “COVID-19 exposed rural and information deserts because of areas that do not have access to broadband. So those areas in a lot of ways could not go home and get on the internet because of lack of broadband, lack of ability to surf and look on the web, still relied on the old fashion print paper and the local 6 o’clock and 11 o’clock news to keep up with a lot of main core issues that were facing them.”
To learn about how broadband impacts the community at large and the plans for a broadband expansion in Orangeburg vist this link https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/street-squad/broadband-expands-in-orangeburg-county/101-7587daa4-7014-4092-b89e-303b6d0a1960
Rachelle Jamerson-Holmes is a native of Orangeburg and a local business owner. Holmes moved away to pursue other opportunities but came back to her hometown to go into business for herself and one thing that stuck out to her is that “Journalism is different in rural areas than it is in your bigger cities.” Holmes, who owns several businesses one including a bed and breakfast in the downtown Orangeburg area. She say’s returning home to a predominantly rural community and starting a business especially when it comes to advertising can be a challenge saying, “Let’s take Columbia and Charleston. We sit in the center of both so Columbia and Charleston not only have the major news lines they have smaller community newspapers that have been around for years. Well in smaller communities we don’t have that luxury because that pool of income is not there to keep those papers active and sustainable.”
Holmes credits the local CBS station (WLTX-TV) for re-instating some of the old fashioned community journalism that has boots on the ground in the area. She mentioned the station starting an initiative called ‘Street Squad’, which embedded a reporter into the community and brought a hyper-local news focus back into the newscast. For Holmes, that not only was important to be receiving more coverage in her community but at a time when distrust in the media as at an all time high she feels that having someone on the ground created a more cohesive relationship saying, “When you’re able to know their [journalist] name, see their faces….it allows you to pick up the phone and say ‘hey do you know this is happening in our county, in our area, in our town’ and this is news that needs to be covered because every journalist doesn’t know everything. See when you have that trust and have that bond that the person is going to cover the story right to bring it to the community in the right way, that’s what every community is looking for.”
Evelyn Disher, resident of the county shares that same perspective, when it comes to original reporting from her community. Disher has seen the ebbs and flows of local journalism, but feels when a journalist is covering the area on a daily basis she says it helps to address, “What are the key things that are on the minds of people who live here or people who are considering some sort of investment in the community.”
Disher, who is also on several boards in the community goes on to recognize the difference in connection and citizen pride that exist when coverage is consistent saying, “Being in an area that’s spread out….it’s important you get to see what’s going on and you have that presence in your community. People get excited when they see the coverage, they want to get to meet the people and it speaks to the heart of the community and how people really feel about it.”
News Deserts: What’s To Come
The traditional business model that historically has sustained local news organizations is broken and must be rebuilt, but what does that rebuilding process really look like?
In an ever changing media landscape along with the coronavirus pandemic, the question of ‘What is the best possible way to move forward with local journalism?’ is still unknown, but there are some thoughts as to what the future will look like.
The research done by the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, suggest a couple of ways of moving forward such as algorithms to add efficiencies to the editing and publishing processes, a bigger role for public broadcasting and support from government policies and money.
An article in Poynter, highlights the discussion of journalism receiving aid through a government fund but also how that could pose a threat to the purity of the news. In the discussion an argument is pointed out that the government funding media can be traced all the way back to the founding fathers of the country, who gave lower postal rates to newspapers to encourage the growth of a free press.
Currently there are several bills in Congress looking to address some of the financial issues newsroom faces in the light of coronavirus and according to the article one of those bills includes tax credits for newsroom employment. The bill would potentially include changes in the tax code. The article suggest, providing “Tax credits for hiring journalists or make it easier for the newspapers to convert to nonprofit status. In those cases, a range of companies could be helped, while the government would make no judgments about content.”
When it comes to the world of print, many media outlets large and small have adopted digital paywalls to offset dramatic declines in print revenues, but paywalls aren’t always an effective revenue strategy.
According to Forbes, a new study that incorporates data on the four primary revenue components of traditional newspaper companies — print subscription, print advertising, digital subscription, and digital advertising — finds that for companies with high circulations and large amounts of exclusive content, paywalls can increase overall sales, often by increasing demand for print subscriptions.
Newspapers with less exclusive content, however, have generally experienced losses when they started charging readers to access digital editions, according to the research, which studied major newspaper firms in the United States.
The study suggest for most print media firms, the net effect of a paywall on digital sales is negative, as digital subscription revenue is offset by a significant decrease in digital advertising revenue due to reduced website visits.
Additional research is needed to determine whether small community newspapers are able to leverage their unique local content to make a digital paywall strategy advantageous, despite lacking the circulation and resources of the major newspaper companies says study author Doug J. Chung, Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
Evelyn Disher, who is also a member on several different community boards says that grassroots journalism is desired and needed for a region to survive. She along with other residents and community leaders have seen their community thrive saying, “Because of the help of media I think that’s how we’re seeing a lot of growth and positive change that residents have actually been asking for.”
But industry leaders like Nate Abraham, publisher of the Carolina Panorama newspaper and board member of the South Carolina Press Association, say the road won’t be easy but there is a way forward. Abraham says, “It’s not necessarily selling print but it will be selling our audience. We look at it as we reach people and it’s more than just print we can do it online, mobile devices, you can do it in print so we look at it as we are building an audience so if you come to us you can reach the audience in a variety of different ways. I’m hopeful. This is our 35th year so I have to be hopeful.”
EXTRA MULTIMEDIA ELEMENTS
In this full interview, Orangeburg native and community board member Evelyn Disher gives her take on the importance of local journalism and how she’s seen it impact her hometown.
Carolina Panorama publisher Nate Abraham gives his take on where the print industry is heading in the future.
