"When Local News Fails, the Foundations of Democracy Weaken" - Responses from Student Journalists

Centenary's journalism classes— Intro to Journalism and Newspaper Production Studio— focus on the importance of local journalism. Our student journalists have benefited from the experience and advice provided by guest speakers who are experts in local news. They include Mike Shapiro, CEO and publisher of TAPinto.net, a network of online newspapers; Joyce Estey, news director at WRNJ radio of Hackettstown;  and Amy Bridge, editor and publisher of The Journal, a lifestyle magazine headquartered in Milford, PA. 

Following are Editorials written by our student-journalists about the value, power, and importance of local news to hold communities together in response to the following quote:

“When local news fails, the foundations of democracy weaken.”

-MMargaret Sullivan, “Ghosting The News” 

Alexis d’Ambly

In my opinion, local news has always been the cornerstone of democracy and freedom. From the beginning of printed news and before yellow journalism or editorialized “news,” citizens have been able to read unbiased facts regarding politics, the government, and their country to make their own decisions in voting. 

In the autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass wrote how secretly learning to read improved his knowledge and awareness of the world around him as an enslaved person. It’s the same with local news; reading the facts can only act as a catalyst for decision making and understanding the current political climate and future of the country. 

Before radio or phones, local newspapers were the only way people could get information. Now, many people turn to social media, which is inherently biased and not usually fact checked. Even when it is, the damage is already done. Without the legitimacy of local news, “facts” from social media will only do more harm to the unaware public and democracy. 

Social media is usually the only form of news a person sees unless they actively seek out legitimate news sites or stations. However, the videos people view on social media have been specifically chosen by the app’s software. People believe what they view if they are shown the same information enough times. 

The question is, how can a person know what they’re seeing if real on social media if information conflicts with each other?

The answer lies in local news. I’ve always believed in the importance of local journalism because the reporters, especially here in Hackettstown with Joyce Estey, are unbiased and report the facts, not their own opinions. Even news sites, such as TAPInto, do the same because Mike Shapiro, founder and CEO of TAPInto, has ensured his franchisees have no political agenda. 

Additionally, local news displays values of democracy not seen on social media. “Authority, privacy, responsibility, and justice are not the only ideas that are important in understanding the foundations of our government,” reads the introduction of the book, Foundations of Government by the Center for Civic Education. “But these ideas will help you understand the important differences between a constitutional democracy and a society which is not free.”

When I read the news or watch broadcasts, my main concern is how certain decisions will impact myself and my community. The purpose of social media is to influence and persuade while local journalism has no such agenda. They show authority through the unbiased, fact checked data. Privacy is shown when the writers choose not to spread rumors, private information, or the names of minors. 

WRNJ, NJHerald, and TAPInto have a great responsibility to uphold their end in a respectful manner. In doing so, justice can be served in the fate of the country. 

If we lose local news, we lose a part of ourselves. We lose the ability to make decisions for ourselves and we become influenced by under qualified people on social media. This will never allow society to thrive. 

Kayla Diee

Democracy starts on your street. The woman who volunteers to work the election polls, the man who reads articles from the Sunday paper to his children over breakfast, the aspiring journalist who storms the halls of their high school with a paper and pen. Democracy is you and me and everyone who makes up the corner of the world that we call home. Democracy is having the heart to learn, to inspire others to get involved, to try.  

But it is not enough for that spirit to be extended to conversation. You must do something with your persistence. It cannot die on your tongue, or in a reposted infographic that will vanish from your Instagram in 24 hours. Print preserves that ember of passion and allows it to grow into a flame of influence.  

Your hometown’s newspaper, whether it has a staff of 50 or 500, honors your voice. It is your voice; it amplifies your experiences and needs and vision. Transcribing your truth validates it in the canon of history, not just for your community, but your country. Print outlives us. Whether it is tucked into an archive, logged online, or stacked on someone’s coffee table, your word is eternal. Print cannot be extinguished. Nor should your hope for a better future be.  

In an era where our online presence  seems to be more actualized than our life offscreen, it is vital to take advantage of our opportunity to be heard. In an instant, your story can be read by thousands, if not millions, and put on the desk of those who can project it to a national audience. Perhaps even help it reach over the ocean.  

There is nothing more American than grassroots evolution. And that progress begins by raising questions and demanding answers, fighting relentlessly for progress for your community, and putting those dreams in print.  

It has always been this way. Prior to the Vietnam War, the term “underground newspaper” categorized the publications of resistance groups, such as Sintaksis, a Moscow-based poetry journal that advocated against totalitarian rule. In the 1960s, news media was primarily television networks and wire services that shared packaged national news. Underground press eroded this monopoly, defying the conventions of mass print publishing. Young journalists took their future into their own hands.

The Black Panther Party grew their mission through The Black Panther, a newspaper that began as a four-page leaflet distributed in Oakland, California. Off Our Backs, an underground press syndicate based in Washington, D.C. garnered 20,000 readers discussing women’s liberation. Queer communities advocated through the Effeminist in Berkeley, Radicalqueen in Philadelphia, and Gayzette in San Francisco. These determined independent publications were integral in the establishment of progressive laws and societal standards.  

You don’t need to start your own newspaper to be heard. Local newspapers provide the platform to spread your implorement for justice. Whether your vision for promoting public wellness is advocating for the establishment of a new nonprofit, calling out crime, or sending out a call to action for others to vote, you can enact change. Anything worth believing in deserves to be fought for.  

If you don’t want to see your name in a byline, support those who are putting in the written work. Pick up a copy of your local paper. Read it with the same reverence you grant The Times. Hear your neighbor when they cry out for help or celebrate a local win. For the sake of liberty, exercise your brilliantly powerful right to democracy. It’s irresponsible to just stand by.

Journalism may have a new face and medium. The American Dream may be farther from your grasp than ever. You may be more afraid for the tomorrow of our country than ever. That’s all the more reason to try.  

Amanda Masiello

It happened years ago—in 2013, I was in middle school, sitting by myself in the cafeteria pretending to eat the indigestible slop the staff insisted on feeding us when I heard it. Across the table, two girls were discussing something. “Did you see the news? This scary virus called Ebola has infected America and is spreading fast!”

Huh? Ebola? What the heck is that?

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Later that day in the Computer Lab, I took a break from playing CoolMathGames and pretending to do work to look up Ebola. The headlines caught my eye; “Ebola: deadly new disease is spreading fast, the end of days is upon us!”

The end of the world? Already?! But there's still so much I need to do! I haven’t beaten my high score in Left 4 Dead yet! I still need to finish watching Attack on Titan!

In the following weeks, I obsessively checked the news, tracking the spread of the disease and preparing for it to be at my doorstep any moment.

But it never did.

In fact, the virus never even came near New Jersey.

But the journalists on the computer said so! They couldn’t have been lying, right? You can’t just go on the internet and tell lies!

Well, that’s exactly what happened. It was an embellished story, exaggerating the spread of Ebola to make it seem like the apocalypse really was right around the corner.

From that day forward, I vowed never to trust journalists.

Although, I like to think that as I’ve gotten older, I became better at separating truth from lies. Mainstream news sites are the biggest contenders when it comes to exaggerating stories. Whether it's CNN or Fox, all of them are guilty of corruption. With that said, there is one exception to the rule—local news.

It’s harder for local news to be dishonest because of one critical factor: accountability. Holding any mass-media corporation accountable is difficult enough, let alone one who is responsible for telling the news. Smaller teams like those behind local news can’t get away as easily with lying when their main consumers are also right amid the action.

Another edge local news has over mainstream is encompassing scale. Sometimes, watching worldwide news, you forget how big the world actually is. The troubles one community is facing may not be the same as yours.

It’s a trap we all fell for at least once; one news station’s coverage never tells the full story. By introducing less broad perspectives and more focused voices, you get a better idea of how the scope of the news will affect you and your neighbors, not the world as a whole.

Local journalism also plays a huge role in engaging the public in little ways mainstream news networks cannot reciprocate. They are more personal—literally news that is taking place outside your front door. Watching news that is happening worldwide always comes with some degree of apathy.

Some concepts are so far out of our own personal world that understanding the full scope of some world issues can be difficult to grasp. With local news, this is never a problem since the place you are living in will always be relevant to you, whether it’s something as mundane as the weather or as serious as a recent crime. Being emotionally invested in the news is as important as being informed. It is through pathos that we feel the will to listen, to act.

Without local news, we would have a harder time distinguishing between lies and truth and the personal scope of situations.

Elizabeth May

It's mostly filled with nothing but exaggerated truths or just plain lies. I find it hard to even know what news to trust anymore and I know I am not alone, especially when it comes to the upcoming presidential election and politics in general. 

My friends and I are all first time voters and we all couldn't be more confused on who to vote for or what to do. Many of my friends aren't voting due to the atmosphere around politics and not having a reliable source of news to learn about the candidates. "The pure confusion and anxiety I go through when switching from one news site to the next makes me not even want to vote in this year’s election," said one of my friends. 

Some even feel like they can't make an informed vote since they are unable to get a single reliable fact about either candidate. Even outside of my small bubble of friends, there are plenty of others around the United States who have voiced their disappointment in the lack of facts being reported by the news. 

Local news is failing to inform the new generation of adults and even those who are older. "I see the lies spread by news sources to be a form of societal corruption and that should not be allowed to happen. News sources should be reliable, but from everything I’ve seen, there are no reliable sources," said an older figure in my life. It seems that there is nowhere to turn to get reliable facts anymore, not when it comes to something as volatile as politics. 

While I believe local news has never been unbiased, it is a tragedy that I, like many other people, have to take every story reported by the news with a grain of salt. There should be some news out there that can report on heavy topics like politics and not always use their opinions to corrupt the story.

Ella Barnett

I remember being a freshman in high school, watching CNN and feeling helpless as I watched the outcome of the 2016 election unfold. I remember the fear I felt, worrying that a person who did not care about my rights as a woman would become the next president of the United States. 

I remember going to school the next day and listening to boys all over the school laugh, cheer, and celebrate that the “funny guy” won. Then, in the months after, I remember, as clear as day, suddenly, most people in school realized what it actually meant. It wasn’t just a joke. Real people were being affected by the policies and the callous words President Donald Trump spoke.

“Without local journalism, American politics will become even more polarized; government and business corruption will flourish; the glue that holds communities together will weaken,” Margaret Sullivan, Ghosting The News. In my 18 years of living in the small town of Spring Green, Wisconsin, I remember reading the local paper exactly once. An article about my high school equestrian team got featured as the top news story because of our advancement to the State Competition. It was the only time I felt connected to that community. 18 years, and that one article gave me more love for my hometown than a lifetime of living there did. That is how powerful the effect of local journalism is.

I think, in today’s modern world with mainstream media, we are all guilty of forgetting the importance of local journalism. Just recently, I voted in the 2024 Presidential Election by mail. On the ballot, aside from our country's two presidential candidates, I had no idea who the people running for local and state offices were. I had no idea a new state amendment was being offered, and, so, I had no way of voting for people who could support mine and my neighbors rights.

When COVID-19 shut down the state of Wisconsin, feelings of isolation and fear took over. I worked retail at the time for a local equestrian tack store. When we were cleared to go back to work, a statewide mask mandate was implemented. In Wisconsin, most people believed that because we live in a rural state, COVID would not affect us. As a result, many people refused to participate in social distancing or wear a mask. In fact, on my first day back at work, my boss came up to me and told me, “Don’t tell anyone to wear a mask. Don’t bring the mask mandate up. And if you don’t feel like wearing one, you don’t have to.” 

As a young 17-year-old girl, I was appalled. Here was an educated business owner, someone who successfully kept her small business alive through the COVID shutdowns when most others around us closed, and she was telling me to ignore advice from the United States Health Department, and the advice of our own state healthcare professionals. 

But what scared me more, was the reason behind it all. The fact that despite countless well respected healthcare professionals informing the public of why things like social distancing, wearing a mask, and getting vaccinated were important, people in Wisconsin refused to participate because our President himself did not.

Perhaps if communities had been more in tune with each other, we would not be as politically polarized as we are now. Maybe because of the rise of social media, and false news, it doesn’t matter anymore. In an age where information is so easily accessible, why is it that the people of Wisconsin collectively abandoned their local news in favor of Facebook articles? 

We are all guilty of it, but it is my belief that it is never too late to get back on the right track. Local news uplifts and supports communities. I still remember the feeling of being seen, when seeing my equestrian team on the front page of the paper. I remember strangers at the grocery store congratulating me because they had seen it. I remember when local journalism made me feel like a part of my community, and something bigger.

Erick Young

In an era where sensational headlines flood our screens and social media feeds, the value of local news has never been more critical.​ Amid the mist of distant newsrooms and national broadcasts, it's the dedicated coverage of our communities that truly aid in connection and understanding. 

While many outlets may fill airtime with chatter, only local journalism brings to light the stories that define our neighborhoods, highlight our triumphs, and address our actual challenges on how the impact of misinformation and reinforces the necessity of transparency and accountability in journalism.​ 

While national conversations are often driven by exaggeration, local news has the power to anchor us in the reality of our communities, providing accurate and timely insights that safeguard the truth. Investing in local journalism means fostering trust and understanding, allowing residents to make informed decisions about their lives and their futures.

Victoria Autocunas

For me, Journalism is a huge part of my life, local or not. I think without it I would honestly be lost. Without local journalism, people would be out of a job and would not know what to do with their career. For some people, it can be a release, help with your mental health, but even a bigger thing is that it can start your career. One example I have of this is Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation.

When she was 19 at Harvard, she was suffering from a lot of different mental illnesses, such as anxiety or depression. Wurtzel wrote for the Harvard Crimson, the school newspaper when she started. Her article got published in Rolling Stone and she won an award in 1985. This article was about Lou Reed when he did a show at Harvard. Another subject she wrote about for the Crimson is her mental health, which helped her get out her feelings and what she was going through at the time.

I very much would like to have a career somehow in Journalism. Local journalism will help me. As I am a part of the current school newspaper, the Cyclone Chronicle, I truly believe that it will help me further my part in local journalism. The more you can get involved in local journalism, like the school newspaper or the town newspaper services, the further you will go. It can help anyone looking into Journalism’s career. We wouldn’t have some of the great authors we do today.

I believe we should keep local journalisms in towns, without it, many people would be lost.