The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → Opinion Sep 22, 2020
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This July 10, 2015 staff file photo shows West Covina City Hall. Local news is disappearing. Over 1,700 American news outlets have closed in the last 15 years, creating “news deserts” throughout the country. Newspapers have slashed their reporting staff, reducing the number and quality of their news stories. The loss of local news contributes to problems for democracy: voters who are less informed, less likely to vote, less likely to run for office. Politicians are less responsive to voters, political corruption isn’t exposed, controversial developments more easily approved. Some believe the internet can replace local journalism. It can’t. Social media sites provide some helpful information, but they can’t replace professional journalism. Journalists can connect the dots through narratives in a way that social media typically doesn’t. Community sites have trouble filtering misleading information and lies. Local politicians use social media but block public members who disagree with them. Special interests wield greater influence over politicians when nobody is watching. The need for vibrant local journalism is evident here in the San Gabriel Valley. In West Covina, a politically connected developer who owns property near the former BKK landfill spent over $44,000 to support City Council candidates in 2013. […]
