1 00:00:02,166 --> 00:00:05,000 NICK SCHIFRIN: Across the country, there are deserts of news. Local newspapers print fewer 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,833 pages less frequently, and, in some cases, collapse entirely. 3 00:00:09,833 --> 00:00:14,166 Recent studies paint a grim picture of the decline in local newspapers and the impact 4 00:00:14,166 --> 00:00:16,566 that is having on our politics. 5 00:00:16,566 --> 00:00:18,566 Jeffrey Brown has our look. 6 00:00:18,566 --> 00:00:23,133 A recent report by PEN America was titled "Losing the News: The Decimation of Local 7 00:00:24,333 --> 00:00:26,433 News and the Search for Solutions." 8 00:00:26,433 --> 00:00:31,200 And the evidence comes in newsroom jobs lost and papers shut down. According to the report, 9 00:00:32,633 --> 00:00:36,766 at least 200 counties in the U.S. have no newspaper at all. 10 00:00:36,766 --> 00:00:41,000 The Internet, of course, helped change the economics of the news business, as advertising 11 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,966 migrated online, and the Internet offers new ways for all of us to get news. But what's 12 00:00:47,433 --> 00:00:50,033 happening and what's been lost at the local level? 13 00:00:50,033 --> 00:00:54,500 For that, I'm joined by Chuck Plunkett. He's a former editorial page editor for The Denver 14 00:00:54,500 --> 00:00:59,466 Post. In 2018, he protested layoffs of the newsroom staff after the paper was taken over 15 00:01:01,566 --> 00:01:05,033 by a hedge fund. He's now director of the News Corps at the University of Colorado Boulder, 16 00:01:06,233 --> 00:01:08,700 a media program for student journalists. 17 00:01:08,700 --> 00:01:13,533 And Charles Sennott, a veteran journalist and now founder and CEO of The GroundTruth 18 00:01:13,533 --> 00:01:18,533 Project, a nonprofit media organization that founded Report for America, which helps train 19 00:01:19,900 --> 00:01:22,533 and place reporters in local newsrooms. 20 00:01:22,533 --> 00:01:24,500 And welcome to both of you. 21 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:29,000 Charlie Sennott, help us define the problem and its causes. How do you describe -- in 22 00:01:30,333 --> 00:01:32,333 broad terms, how do you describe the current situation? 23 00:01:32,333 --> 00:01:35,000 CHARLES SENNOTT, Founder, The GroundTruth Project: I think the crisis in journalism 24 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,566 in America has become a real crisis for our democracy. 25 00:01:38,566 --> 00:01:43,366 So, as you pointed out, there are newsrooms across the country that are seeing their staffs 26 00:01:43,366 --> 00:01:47,666 decimated. We are seeing communities where their news organizations have just closed 27 00:01:47,666 --> 00:01:52,633 up and gone away. There are 2,000 newspapers that have completely shut down, 2,000 communities 28 00:01:54,666 --> 00:01:59,066 without a newspaper anymore; 1,300 no longer have any local news coverage at all, no one 29 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,533 watching the store, from small towns to medium-sized cities. 30 00:02:06,500 --> 00:02:09,566 When we lose 30,000 reporting jobs, as we have in the last 10 years, what we lose is 31 00:02:09,566 --> 00:02:13,933 an ability for us to have a shared set of facts on a local level, and for us to have 32 00:02:13,933 --> 00:02:18,933 a civic debate on a local level. And I think we're really seeing a fraying of communities 33 00:02:19,766 --> 00:02:21,733 as a result. 34 00:02:21,733 --> 00:02:24,100 JEFFREY BROWN: So, Chuck Plunkett, you have - - you have seen this up close, put it in 35 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:29,100 specific, even personal terms. What's not getting covered? What are we missing? 36 00:02:31,066 --> 00:02:32,600 CHUCK PLUNKETT, Former Editorial Page Editor, The Denver Post: I mean, here in Denver, it's 37 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,866 a perfect example. And it's happened across the country. 38 00:02:34,866 --> 00:02:39,333 When I started at The Post in 2003, there were nearly 300 journalists. And now there 39 00:02:39,333 --> 00:02:44,333 are 70. And that means there are fewer reporters covering the city hall, covering the statehouse, 40 00:02:45,733 --> 00:02:49,100 covering the important beats like cops and business. 41 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:54,066 Studies have shown that, when there are fewer reporters in communities, that corruption 42 00:02:56,066 --> 00:03:00,466 inevitably starts to grow, taxes start to go up, voter participation starts to drop. 43 00:03:00,466 --> 00:03:04,133 JEFFREY BROWN: I mentioned, of course, the changing business model. And you both have 44 00:03:04,133 --> 00:03:06,233 watched that. 45 00:03:06,233 --> 00:03:10,500 So, in the interim, in some of the solutions - - Charlie, you're addressing one of them 46 00:03:12,466 --> 00:03:17,066 as part of this nonprofit movement. Tell us what you -- tell us about your project. 47 00:03:17,933 --> 00:03:19,966 CHARLES SENNOTT: Sure. 48 00:03:19,966 --> 00:03:22,700 So, what we're trying to say is, we need to have a movement to confront this challenge 49 00:03:22,700 --> 00:03:27,700 to local reporting in America. So we started Report for America as a real service project 50 00:03:29,666 --> 00:03:33,200 to say, this is a call to service for a new generation of journalists to come forward 51 00:03:34,366 --> 00:03:36,333 and serve these local communities. 52 00:03:36,333 --> 00:03:40,700 As Chuck pointed out, there's greet needs to cover education, to cover health issues, 53 00:03:42,266 --> 00:03:45,900 to cover rural areas where no one is really having their story told. 54 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:50,900 So what we are trying to do is create a kind of a Teach for America or City Year for journalism 55 00:03:52,833 --> 00:03:56,366 and to deploy young journalists in the host newsroom. Those host newsrooms will now take 56 00:03:57,766 --> 00:04:01,900 in 250 Report for America corps members, as we call them. 57 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:06,666 And we're really trying to put boots on the ground, so that we can say the best way to 58 00:04:06,666 --> 00:04:11,600 confront this crisis is going to be with real human beings doing real reporting and answering 59 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,133 that need. 60 00:04:14,133 --> 00:04:17,400 JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck, if the economics don't work so well anymore, the way they traditionally 61 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:22,400 did for your industry, is it only projects like that, nonprofit, experimental, relatively 62 00:04:25,066 --> 00:04:28,666 small, even if trying to -- even if having an impact in? 63 00:04:28,666 --> 00:04:31,200 CHUCK PLUNKETT: Every little bit helps, Jeff. 64 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,466 But I fear that we need something much bigger than that, that for years and years and years, 65 00:04:37,333 --> 00:04:41,900 before the rise of the Internet and things like Craigslist and Facebook, the rule of 66 00:04:41,900 --> 00:04:46,600 thumb was that traditional newspapers got 80 percent of their revenue from pricey print 67 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,200 ads and classifieds and things like that. 68 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:54,166 And so now, when ads shift to online and people can go to Craigslist, that revenue just evaporates. 69 00:04:56,133 --> 00:05:00,800 So, The Denver Post, that had top level editors and top level reporters and investigative 70 00:05:02,900 --> 00:05:07,233 reporters and photojournalists, and the whole ballpark, suddenly, you find them in a situation 71 00:05:08,633 --> 00:05:12,933 where they need a lot more money to be able to pay the bills. 72 00:05:12,933 --> 00:05:17,933 And trying to go this subscription model or the nonprofit model, the different courageous 73 00:05:19,866 --> 00:05:23,800 experiments that you're seeing out there, isn't really getting the job done. 74 00:05:25,766 --> 00:05:28,966 I came around to the idea that a public funding option to help subsidize, to help backfill 75 00:05:30,966 --> 00:05:34,066 some of that 80 percent of the revenue that has been lost is going to be critically important 76 00:05:34,066 --> 00:05:38,533 to keeping our democracy alive and healthy. 77 00:05:38,533 --> 00:05:43,300 And we need our watchdogs. We need the people who are journalistically trained to get out 78 00:05:43,300 --> 00:05:47,100 there. You need a source that you can go to that's reliable, that speaks for the community, 79 00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:50,966 that's been trusted and is considered one of the most plugged-in members of the community, 80 00:05:50,966 --> 00:05:53,033 like a Denver Post. 81 00:05:53,033 --> 00:05:56,966 JEFFREY BROWN: We're talking economics, of course, but we're also in a time where journalism, 82 00:05:58,966 --> 00:06:02,666 journalists are -- these are contested areas. Facts and truth are contested. 83 00:06:02,666 --> 00:06:07,233 And you're both now working with young people. You're working with what you hope is a new 84 00:06:07,233 --> 00:06:08,966 generation of journalists. 85 00:06:08,966 --> 00:06:12,500 Charlie, what do you say to people coming into this? 86 00:06:12,500 --> 00:06:17,033 CHARLES SENNOTT: What we say to young people is, look, you can go into a community, and 87 00:06:17,033 --> 00:06:20,166 you can be of service to that community, and you can change things. 88 00:06:20,166 --> 00:06:25,133 Right now, too many communities have no one watching the store. There's great journalism 89 00:06:25,133 --> 00:06:30,133 that can be done to go out into these communities and uncover really important stories that 90 00:06:30,866 --> 00:06:32,933 matter to the community. 91 00:06:32,933 --> 00:06:35,500 So, Jeff, you and I came of an age when journalism had a big future to it, and you could get 92 00:06:35,500 --> 00:06:40,500 into these jobs. We want to restore the pipeline for a new generation of journalists to come 93 00:06:41,866 --> 00:06:43,400 forward. And we really want to urge them to apply. 94 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,800 You go to ReportforAmerica.org and apply for these positions. 95 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:52,033 JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck, you're working at a university now, so you're with young people. 96 00:06:52,033 --> 00:06:55,100 What are they coming to you for, and what are you saying to them? 97 00:06:55,100 --> 00:06:58,266 CHUCK PLUNKETT: Our students have a lot of passion. They look at the world that they 98 00:06:58,266 --> 00:07:02,266 live in, and they fear that it's chaotic, and that it's full of tricksters. 99 00:07:02,266 --> 00:07:06,600 And a lot of -- as much as the Internet gives us wonderful information and tools to use, 100 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,600 it also brings a lot of mischievous activity. And they look at the state of the country, 101 00:07:13,466 --> 00:07:15,800 and they see that there's a lot of disconnect and a lot of anger. 102 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,666 And they have a real passion for wanting to do something about it and get involved and 103 00:07:19,666 --> 00:07:24,666 be able to develop the skills that it takes to go far beyond the kind of citizen journalism 104 00:07:25,266 --> 00:07:27,333 that's needed. 105 00:07:27,333 --> 00:07:29,633 JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck Plunkett and Charles Sennott, thank you both very much, and happy 106 00:07:29,633 --> 00:07:30,800 new year. 107 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:32,033 CHUCK PLUNKETT: Happy new year to you. 108 00:07:32,033 --> 00:07:32,166 CHARLES SENNOTT: Thank you. Happy new year.