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Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy

Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy

by Margaret Sullivan

Columbia Global Reports ·2020 ·105 pages
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Near the Top
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50/99
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10/99

Critics' Rating Index

Maybe Someday

49/99

Readers' Rating Index

Top of the Pile

91/99

Scholars' Citation Index

66/99

Volume of Reviews

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About This Book

Ghosting the News tells the most troubling media story of our time: how democracy suffers when local news dies. From 2004 to 2015, 1,800 print newspaper outlets closed in the US. One in five news organizations in Canada has closed since 2008. One in three Brazilians lives in news deserts. The absence of accountability journalism has created an atmosphere in which indicted politicians were elected, school superintendents were mismanaging districts, and police chiefs were getting mysterious payouts. This is not the much-discussed fake-news problem--it's the separate problem of a critical shortage of real news. America's premier media critic, Margaret Sullivan, charts the contours of the damage, and surveys a range of new efforts to keep local news alive--from non-profit digital sites to an effort modeled on the Peace Corps. No nostalgic paean to the roar of rumbling presses, Ghosting the News instead sounds a loud alarm, alerting citizens to a growing crisis in local news that has already done serious damage.


Reviews

"the author's goal isn't to lament the good old days of once-mighty businesses."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"[Sullivan] attempts to strike a hopeful note can sound unsatisfying because of how problematic all the solutions are."

Jennifer Szalai· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"She is sounding an alarm."

Susan Benkelman· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"But Sullivan—a media columnist at The Washington Post, a former public editor at The New York Times, and a longtime chief editor of The Buffalo News—is also offering an opportunity: to recalibrate our vision ..."

Megan Garber· The Atlantic Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Sullivan's book ends on a bleak note ..."

Sewell Chan· Los Angeles Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"But perhaps I'm naive to think 'America's premier media critic,' as the book's back cover proclaims Ms."

Barton Swaim· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

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