Fake News- How the Demise of Local News Sources Promotes Internet Quackery

I truly appreciate the current ownership and management of The Citizen. They present a very balanced picture of local, regional and state events in the publication. Reasonable views on the right left and middle are presented in their editorials. 

Pew Research has come out with a disturbing report on where Americans get their news.. It reinforces my belief that our society is becoming much more divided due to unreliable news sources.

Local news is dying a slow and painful death. A decade ago, 37% of US residents followed local news closely; now that is down to 21%.

Over three fourths (82 %) of Americans believe that local news outlets are “essential to the well-being of their local community”. Furthermore, the American public has slowly come to the realization that their newspapers are under financial pressure, with 39% of those polled acknowledging that their local news outlets are “not doing well financially”. 

So, if people are not going to local news, where do they increasingly get their information? The short answer is the internet. Regarding “often and “frequent” use, from 2018 to 2025 the more traditional internet sources (think Facebook or Next Door) have risen from 38% to 52%. 

However, the greatest rise…and the one that concerns me the most…is the rise in the newer internet sources- up from 15% to 42% in only 7 years. Many of these unprofessional sources (think “influencers”) simply repeat fake news, left or right, that has not been verified by any reputable source and is factually inaccurate.

The changes in local news are negatively affecting all of us. Because newspapers are under such severe financial constraints, many are hesitant to print anything that could rock the boat. 

As for myself, when it comes to finance and balanced budgets, I am politically conservative. More in the mold of the GOP several decades ago when I was an active Republican. As Chair of the Jasper County Board of Commissioners, I led the successful fight to lower property tax increases from 10% annually down to 1%. But, as reflected in many of my columns, I have always been a traditional liberal regarding social issues like DEI and healthcare reform.

With 1900 columns in print, I have been published in dozens of papers around the nation and am currently a regular columnist for newspapers in several states. My own political and social views have not changed much over the last decade. But, due to financial considerations, management’s ability to have diverse opinions in many local publications has. 

In my own case, that means that I am no longer published in a couple of papers, possibly because some of my editorials do not conform with the MAGA view of the world and those editors are afraid of losing socially conservative readers. That is understandable, but these philosophic restrictions simply reinforce existing patterns of thought. Alternative arguments, including those based on irrefutable facts, are never brought to light. And that is not good for our citizens, left or right.