NICK SCHIFRIN: Across
the country, there are
deserts of news. Local
newspapers print fewer

pages less frequently, and, in
some cases, collapse entirely.

Recent studies paint a grim
picture of the decline in
local newspapers and the impact

that is having on our politics.

Jeffrey Brown has our look.

A recent report by PEN America
was titled "Losing the News:
The Decimation of Local

News and the Search
for Solutions."

And the evidence comes
in newsroom jobs lost
and papers shut down.
According to the report,

at least 200 counties in the
U.S. have no newspaper at all.

The Internet, of course, helped
change the economics of the
news business, as advertising

migrated online, and the
Internet offers new ways for all
of us to get news. But what's

happening and what's been
lost at the local level?

For that, I'm joined by
Chuck Plunkett. He's a
former editorial page
editor for The Denver

Post. In 2018, he protested
layoffs of the newsroom staff
after the paper was taken over

by a hedge fund. He's
now director of the News
Corps at the University
of Colorado Boulder,

a media program for
student journalists.

And Charles Sennott, a veteran
journalist and now founder
and CEO of The GroundTruth

Project, a nonprofit media
organization that founded Report
for America, which helps train

and place reporters
in local newsrooms.

And welcome to both of you.

Charlie Sennott, help us define
the problem and its causes.
How do you describe -- in

broad terms, how do you
describe the current situation?

CHARLES SENNOTT, Founder,
The GroundTruth Project: I
think the crisis in journalism

in America has become a real
crisis for our democracy.

So, as you pointed out, there
are newsrooms across the country
that are seeing their staffs

decimated. We are seeing
communities where their news
organizations have just closed

up and gone away. There
are 2,000 newspapers
that have completely shut
down, 2,000 communities

without a newspaper anymore;
1,300 no longer have any local
news coverage at all, no one

watching the store, from small
towns to medium-sized cities.

When we lose 30,000 reporting
jobs, as we have in the last
10 years, what we lose is

an ability for us to have a
shared set of facts on a local
level, and for us to have

a civic debate on a local
level. And I think we're really
seeing a fraying of communities

as a result.

JEFFREY BROWN: So, Chuck
Plunkett, you have - - you have
seen this up close, put it in

specific, even personal
terms. What's not getting
covered? What are we missing?

CHUCK PLUNKETT, Former Editorial
Page Editor, The Denver Post:
I mean, here in Denver, it's

a perfect example. And it's
happened across the country.

When I started at The Post in
2003, there were nearly 300
journalists. And now there

are 70. And that means
there are fewer reporters
covering the city hall,
covering the statehouse,

covering the important beats
like cops and business.

Studies have shown that, when
there are fewer reporters in
communities, that corruption

inevitably starts to grow,
taxes start to go up, voter
participation starts to drop.

JEFFREY BROWN: I mentioned, of
course, the changing business
model. And you both have

watched that.

So, in the interim, in some
of the solutions - - Charlie,
you're addressing one of them

as part of this nonprofit
movement. Tell us what you --
tell us about your project.

CHARLES SENNOTT: Sure.

So, what we're trying to say
is, we need to have a movement
to confront this challenge

to local reporting in America.
So we started Report for America
as a real service project

to say, this is a call to
service for a new generation
of journalists to come forward

and serve these
local communities.

As Chuck pointed out, there's
greet needs to cover education,
to cover health issues,

to cover rural areas
where no one is really
having their story told.

So what we are trying to
do is create a kind of
a Teach for America or
City Year for journalism

and to deploy young journalists
in the host newsroom. Those
host newsrooms will now take

in 250 Report for America
corps members, as we call them.

And we're really trying to put
boots on the ground, so that
we can say the best way to

confront this crisis is going to
be with real human beings doing
real reporting and answering

that need.

JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck,
if the economics don't
work so well anymore, the
way they traditionally

did for your industry,
is it only projects
like that, nonprofit,
experimental, relatively

small, even if trying to --
even if having an impact in?

CHUCK PLUNKETT: Every
little bit helps, Jeff.

But I fear that we need
something much bigger
than that, that for years
and years and years,

before the rise of the Internet
and things like Craigslist
and Facebook, the rule of

thumb was that traditional
newspapers got 80 percent of
their revenue from pricey print

ads and classifieds
and things like that.

And so now, when ads shift
to online and people can
go to Craigslist, that
revenue just evaporates.

So, The Denver Post, that had
top level editors and top level
reporters and investigative

reporters and photojournalists,
and the whole ballpark,
suddenly, you find
them in a situation

where they need a lot more money
to be able to pay the bills.

And trying to go this
subscription model or
the nonprofit model,
the different courageous

experiments that you're
seeing out there, isn't
really getting the job done.

I came around to the idea that
a public funding option to help
subsidize, to help backfill

some of that 80 percent of the
revenue that has been lost is
going to be critically important

to keeping our democracy
alive and healthy.

And we need our watchdogs.
We need the people who
are journalistically
trained to get out

there. You need a source that
you can go to that's reliable,
that speaks for the community,

that's been trusted
and is considered one
of the most plugged-in
members of the community,

like a Denver Post.

JEFFREY BROWN: We're talking
economics, of course, but we're
also in a time where journalism,

journalists are -- these
are contested areas. Facts
and truth are contested.

And you're both now working with
young people. You're working
with what you hope is a new

generation of journalists.

Charlie, what do you say
to people coming into this?

CHARLES SENNOTT: What we say
to young people is, look, you
can go into a community, and

you can be of service
to that community, and
you can change things.

Right now, too many communities
have no one watching the
store. There's great journalism

that can be done to go out into
these communities and uncover
really important stories that

matter to the community.

So, Jeff, you and I came of an
age when journalism had a big
future to it, and you could get

into these jobs. We want
to restore the pipeline
for a new generation
of journalists to come

forward. And we really
want to urge them to apply.

You go to ReportforAmerica.org
and apply for these positions.

JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck, you're
working at a university now,
so you're with young people.

What are they coming to you for,
and what are you saying to them?

CHUCK PLUNKETT: Our students
have a lot of passion. They
look at the world that they

live in, and they fear
that it's chaotic, and that
it's full of tricksters.

And a lot of -- as much as the
Internet gives us wonderful
information and tools to use,

it also brings a lot of
mischievous activity.
And they look at the
state of the country,

and they see that there's
a lot of disconnect
and a lot of anger.

And they have a real passion
for wanting to do something
about it and get involved and

be able to develop the skills
that it takes to go far beyond
the kind of citizen journalism

that's needed.

JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck Plunkett
and Charles Sennott, thank
you both very much, and happy

new year.

CHUCK PLUNKETT: Happy
new year to you.

CHARLES SENNOTT: Thank
you. Happy new year.