WEBVTT 00:02.166 --> 00:05.000 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: Across the country, there are deserts of news. Local newspapers print fewer 00:05.000 --> 00:09.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% pages less frequently, and, in some cases, collapse entirely. 00:09.833 --> 00:14.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Recent studies paint a grim picture of the decline in local newspapers and the impact 00:14.166 --> 00:16.566 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% that is having on our politics. 00:16.566 --> 00:18.566 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Jeffrey Brown has our look. 00:18.566 --> 00:23.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% A recent report by PEN America was titled "Losing the News: The Decimation of Local 00:24.333 --> 00:26.433 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% News and the Search for Solutions." 00:26.433 --> 00:31.200 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And the evidence comes in newsroom jobs lost and papers shut down. According to the report, 00:32.633 --> 00:36.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% at least 200 counties in the U.S. have no newspaper at all. 00:36.766 --> 00:41.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The Internet, of course, helped change the economics of the news business, as advertising 00:41.000 --> 00:45.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% migrated online, and the Internet offers new ways for all of us to get news. But what's 00:47.433 --> 00:50.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% happening and what's been lost at the local level? 00:50.033 --> 00:54.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% For that, I'm joined by Chuck Plunkett. He's a former editorial page editor for The Denver 00:54.500 --> 00:59.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Post. In 2018, he protested layoffs of the newsroom staff after the paper was taken over 01:01.566 --> 01:05.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% by a hedge fund. He's now director of the News Corps at the University of Colorado Boulder, 01:06.233 --> 01:08.700 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% a media program for student journalists. 01:08.700 --> 01:13.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And Charles Sennott, a veteran journalist and now founder and CEO of The GroundTruth 01:13.533 --> 01:18.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Project, a nonprofit media organization that founded Report for America, which helps train 01:19.900 --> 01:22.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and place reporters in local newsrooms. 01:22.533 --> 01:24.500 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% And welcome to both of you. 01:24.500 --> 01:29.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Charlie Sennott, help us define the problem and its causes. How do you describe -- in 01:30.333 --> 01:32.333 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% broad terms, how do you describe the current situation? 01:32.333 --> 01:35.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHARLES SENNOTT, Founder, The GroundTruth Project: I think the crisis in journalism 01:35.000 --> 01:38.566 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% in America has become a real crisis for our democracy. 01:38.566 --> 01:43.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, as you pointed out, there are newsrooms across the country that are seeing their staffs 01:43.366 --> 01:47.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% decimated. We are seeing communities where their news organizations have just closed 01:47.666 --> 01:52.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% up and gone away. There are 2,000 newspapers that have completely shut down, 2,000 communities 01:54.666 --> 01:59.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% without a newspaper anymore; 1,300 no longer have any local news coverage at all, no one 02:00.600 --> 02:04.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% watching the store, from small towns to medium-sized cities. 02:06.500 --> 02:09.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% When we lose 30,000 reporting jobs, as we have in the last 10 years, what we lose is 02:09.566 --> 02:13.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% an ability for us to have a shared set of facts on a local level, and for us to have 02:13.933 --> 02:18.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a civic debate on a local level. And I think we're really seeing a fraying of communities 02:19.766 --> 02:21.733 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% as a result. 02:21.733 --> 02:24.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFFREY BROWN: So, Chuck Plunkett, you have - - you have seen this up close, put it in 02:24.100 --> 02:29.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% specific, even personal terms. What's not getting covered? What are we missing? 02:31.066 --> 02:32.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHUCK PLUNKETT, Former Editorial Page Editor, The Denver Post: I mean, here in Denver, it's 02:32.600 --> 02:34.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% a perfect example. And it's happened across the country. 02:34.866 --> 02:39.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% When I started at The Post in 2003, there were nearly 300 journalists. And now there 02:39.333 --> 02:44.333 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% are 70. And that means there are fewer reporters covering the city hall, covering the statehouse, 02:45.733 --> 02:49.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% covering the important beats like cops and business. 02:49.100 --> 02:54.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Studies have shown that, when there are fewer reporters in communities, that corruption 02:56.066 --> 03:00.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% inevitably starts to grow, taxes start to go up, voter participation starts to drop. 03:00.466 --> 03:04.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFFREY BROWN: I mentioned, of course, the changing business model. And you both have 03:04.133 --> 03:06.233 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% watched that. 03:06.233 --> 03:10.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, in the interim, in some of the solutions - - Charlie, you're addressing one of them 03:12.466 --> 03:17.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% as part of this nonprofit movement. Tell us what you -- tell us about your project. 03:17.933 --> 03:19.966 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% CHARLES SENNOTT: Sure. 03:19.966 --> 03:22.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, what we're trying to say is, we need to have a movement to confront this challenge 03:22.700 --> 03:27.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to local reporting in America. So we started Report for America as a real service project 03:29.666 --> 03:33.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to say, this is a call to service for a new generation of journalists to come forward 03:34.366 --> 03:36.333 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and serve these local communities. 03:36.333 --> 03:40.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% As Chuck pointed out, there's greet needs to cover education, to cover health issues, 03:42.266 --> 03:45.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% to cover rural areas where no one is really having their story told. 03:45.900 --> 03:50.900 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% So what we are trying to do is create a kind of a Teach for America or City Year for journalism 03:52.833 --> 03:56.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and to deploy young journalists in the host newsroom. Those host newsrooms will now take 03:57.766 --> 04:01.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% in 250 Report for America corps members, as we call them. 04:01.900 --> 04:06.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And we're really trying to put boots on the ground, so that we can say the best way to 04:06.666 --> 04:11.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% confront this crisis is going to be with real human beings doing real reporting and answering 04:11.600 --> 04:14.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% that need. 04:14.133 --> 04:17.400 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck, if the economics don't work so well anymore, the way they traditionally 04:17.400 --> 04:22.400 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% did for your industry, is it only projects like that, nonprofit, experimental, relatively 04:25.066 --> 04:28.666 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% small, even if trying to -- even if having an impact in? 04:28.666 --> 04:31.200 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% CHUCK PLUNKETT: Every little bit helps, Jeff. 04:31.200 --> 04:35.466 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% But I fear that we need something much bigger than that, that for years and years and years, 04:37.333 --> 04:41.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% before the rise of the Internet and things like Craigslist and Facebook, the rule of 04:41.900 --> 04:46.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% thumb was that traditional newspapers got 80 percent of their revenue from pricey print 04:46.600 --> 04:49.200 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% ads and classifieds and things like that. 04:49.200 --> 04:54.166 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% And so now, when ads shift to online and people can go to Craigslist, that revenue just evaporates. 04:56.133 --> 05:00.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, The Denver Post, that had top level editors and top level reporters and investigative 05:02.900 --> 05:07.233 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% reporters and photojournalists, and the whole ballpark, suddenly, you find them in a situation 05:08.633 --> 05:12.933 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% where they need a lot more money to be able to pay the bills. 05:12.933 --> 05:17.933 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And trying to go this subscription model or the nonprofit model, the different courageous 05:19.866 --> 05:23.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% experiments that you're seeing out there, isn't really getting the job done. 05:25.766 --> 05:28.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I came around to the idea that a public funding option to help subsidize, to help backfill 05:30.966 --> 05:34.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% some of that 80 percent of the revenue that has been lost is going to be critically important 05:34.066 --> 05:38.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% to keeping our democracy alive and healthy. 05:38.533 --> 05:43.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% And we need our watchdogs. We need the people who are journalistically trained to get out 05:43.300 --> 05:47.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% there. You need a source that you can go to that's reliable, that speaks for the community, 05:47.100 --> 05:50.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% that's been trusted and is considered one of the most plugged-in members of the community, 05:50.966 --> 05:53.033 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% like a Denver Post. 05:53.033 --> 05:56.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFFREY BROWN: We're talking economics, of course, but we're also in a time where journalism, 05:58.966 --> 06:02.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% journalists are -- these are contested areas. Facts and truth are contested. 06:02.666 --> 06:07.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And you're both now working with young people. You're working with what you hope is a new 06:07.233 --> 06:08.966 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% generation of journalists. 06:08.966 --> 06:12.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% Charlie, what do you say to people coming into this? 06:12.500 --> 06:17.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHARLES SENNOTT: What we say to young people is, look, you can go into a community, and 06:17.033 --> 06:20.166 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% you can be of service to that community, and you can change things. 06:20.166 --> 06:25.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Right now, too many communities have no one watching the store. There's great journalism 06:25.133 --> 06:30.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that can be done to go out into these communities and uncover really important stories that 06:30.866 --> 06:32.933 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% matter to the community. 06:32.933 --> 06:35.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, Jeff, you and I came of an age when journalism had a big future to it, and you could get 06:35.500 --> 06:40.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% into these jobs. We want to restore the pipeline for a new generation of journalists to come 06:41.866 --> 06:43.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% forward. And we really want to urge them to apply. 06:43.400 --> 06:47.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% You go to ReportforAmerica.org and apply for these positions. 06:47.800 --> 06:52.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck, you're working at a university now, so you're with young people. 06:52.033 --> 06:55.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% What are they coming to you for, and what are you saying to them? 06:55.100 --> 06:58.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% CHUCK PLUNKETT: Our students have a lot of passion. They look at the world that they 06:58.266 --> 07:02.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% live in, and they fear that it's chaotic, and that it's full of tricksters. 07:02.266 --> 07:06.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And a lot of -- as much as the Internet gives us wonderful information and tools to use, 07:06.600 --> 07:11.600 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% it also brings a lot of mischievous activity. And they look at the state of the country, 07:13.466 --> 07:15.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and they see that there's a lot of disconnect and a lot of anger. 07:15.800 --> 07:19.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And they have a real passion for wanting to do something about it and get involved and 07:19.666 --> 07:24.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% be able to develop the skills that it takes to go far beyond the kind of citizen journalism 07:25.266 --> 07:27.333 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% that's needed. 07:27.333 --> 07:29.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JEFFREY BROWN: Chuck Plunkett and Charles Sennott, thank you both very much, and happy 07:29.633 --> 07:30.800 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% new year. 07:30.800 --> 07:32.033 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% CHUCK PLUNKETT: Happy new year to you. 07:32.033 --> 07:32.166 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% CHARLES SENNOTT: Thank you. Happy new year.