If the subject interests you, take a look at this article:
When local newspapers shrink, fewer people bother to run for mayor
“In a well-functioning system, citizens need to be actively engaged in their government and aware of decisions made by their elected representatives. Newspapers are a means of citizen engagement, and this study provides evidence of the importance of this link.” By Joshua Benton.
I think the argument could be made that a newspaper with very few reporters will lead to fewer candidates for every locally-elected office.
In reality my observation is that when newspapers started to become more biased in how the ‘news’ was reported, candidates for office took to a new method of communicating with the voters – direct mail, robo-calls, and now social media.
As the new methods grew so did the negative campaigning.
To compete, it could be argued that the newspapers started to participate with even more negative reporting.
Who wants to run for office when the media will participate in a campaign to totally destroy your life AND those who surround you?
My conclusion is that newspapers were instrumental in creating the environment where an unregistered group can send out negative campaign material followed up by the local NEWSPAPER(s) supporting the guy who it appears was involved in the creation of the unregistered group.
Who wants to run for office only to have their familial relationships sliced / diced / dissected / distorted by local newspapers?
Therefor, it is not that lower newspaper circulation caused the reduction in candidates, it was the newspaper involvement in negative reporting.
This year when people started to file tax returns, ALL local newspapers editorialized that tax refunds were down due to the Trump tax cuts.
The truth was that people were paying less in federal taxes. Just an example of why newspaper circulation is down.
I think the word “news” papers is misplaced as it connotes unbiased neutral reporting.
These organizations are nothing more than an appendage of the Democrat party.
hey bro like we need more people voting and stuff man.
yeah ima wait til AFTER the election where we got less than 10 percent turnout to print this message but whatever you know man? like the important thing or whatever is that i said it and stuff…
oh also give me a pat on the back for being in the media.
it’s the newspapers and stuff that really matters.
Why should people vote without local newspapers?
don’t regard the fact that hardly anybody reads newspapers anymore.
yeah so buy my newspaper and then go vote man… four years from now… it’s really important.
like without a newspaper that nobody reads in the first place, why do people even get involved in politics and stuff: ?
answer: THEY DON’T so buy my newspaper and we can fix democracy bro
That’s all before fake news.
I await the NWH demise with glee.
Their phony circulation figures should inspire fraud suits.
Their major advertisers, like Gary Lang, should be picketed.
Do their major advertisers know the paid circulation numbers are false?
Not only newspapers that are biased, but radio stations also.
This morning, listening to a popular Chicago radio station, the news reader reported that President Trump has considered sending aliens captured at the southern border to sanctuary cities around the nation.
Immediately after that item, which was a fact and would be considered NEWS, the radio station news reader provided a recorded clip from Matthew Dowd of ABC.
Dowd said that Trump should instead work with the nations to the south of the US to fix the causes of why people are fleeing those nations and are heading to the US/Mexico border.
The radio station presented Dowd’s recorded clip as NEWS when in fact it was his opinion.
The radio station is free to broadcast whatever they want but they should characterize OPINIONS from media figures such as Dowd from ABC as OPINION and not fact/news.
What is sad is that many radio stations and tv news networks and cable news networks WEAVE their opinions and biases with their so-called news shows.
Listeners and watchers of radio stations and tv news networks are being brainwashed with opinions and biases of agendas of these entities most of which are left wing.
Newspapers have become propaganda papers.
Slowly but surely people are waking up to this.
Did this “trigger” you, Little Joey Blowhard ?
And you, Little Tommy Snowflake ?
Too bad, deal with it.
Honest Abe is honest!
The local agitprop rag, NWH Fake News, is a good example.
—Can’t wait until the plug is pulled on this fishwrap!
I’ll do a jig!
Far better than these lads: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=irishjig&&view=detail&mid=63E7E95BCC7AB5AAEAE263E7E95BCC7AB5AAEAE2&&FORM=VRDGAR
Here’s the Northwest Herald’s Paid circulation:
https://blissfulradiance.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/down-graph.jpg
And here’s the Herald’s Unpaid circulation (free at hospitals, schools, county jail, senior ctrs., etc.)
http://thumbs.mic.com/MGZiMDRhZGUxMiMvWS1PYjdGdFVMZDFhc3NzblpSMUlYNTIxZVhVPS8xMTZ4MDo5MTF4NTAxLzEyMDB4NjMwL2ZpbHRlcnM6cXVhbGl0eSg4NSkvaHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5hbWF6b25hd3MuY29tL3BvbGljeW1pYy1pbWFnZXMvM2M2MzEyNjE2ZTg1NTVjMDMzMmUzNTA0Mjg0NjRhZTI4NmVmMzdlYWNkOGMyYzkxNjQxOTQ5MTY4NDQyNWUzYS5qcGc.jpg
However there’s still a significant net circulation loss each year.
There has been a gigantic credibility loss over the last 25 years as well.
I’ve personally persuaded 5 subscribers to become ex-subscribers.
–and every day add’l subscribers become ex-subscribers >>>>>> they can be found in the obituary pages of the lying newspaper.
But their survivors’ have to pay an exorbitant fee to even get on those pages.
The Herald extracts from their survivors a final, undeserved tribute.
Newspapers, radio, tv news have always presented news AND opinion. Your example of what the radio station did is nothing new- you present a news story, and sometimes offer an editorial or analysis after. I think what we’re seeing is an absolute refusal to hear anything- news or opinion- that we disagree with.
It used to be pretty standard that as long as a paper got angry letters from “both sides” they knew they were doing their job.
Now a Herald Reader will not tolerate anything that conflicts with their view.
TV news is even worse.
Look at this blog- it’s a steady stream of Republican talking points and the minute anyone disagrees, they’re ” triggered” and all hell breaks loose.
An adult difference of opinion and educated discussion free of insults and name calling is as scarce as hens teeth..
Joe will never ‘get it’.
Liberals / progressives are catered to by the media.
“all hell breaks loose” like when the Fair Board announced Ted Nugent was going to be featured at the Fair.
Source and numbers for verticle axis, please.
Source, please.
Where do you find “paid circulation figures?”
Joe Kvidera, do you work for fake news?
Wikipedia shows NWH circulation to be 21,500 for the Sunday edition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Herald
If that is not correct, they should have that number changed.
Looking at the footnote, I see no information for the Northwet Herald.