By: Katie Haley
News deserts are rural or urban communities with limited access to the sort of credible, comprehensive news and information that feeds democracy at the grassroots level. More than 200 counties in America are considered news deserts with no access to a newspaper. News deserts are becoming more frequent in our country, making it more difficult for Americans to have reliable news outlets. New deserts are becoming most prominent in rural regions where media sectors are not being recognized or reached.
You may be asking, why is this happening? The answer is simple. Print news has seen a major decline within the last decade. News organizations are failing to adapt and produce an alternative. This is because of the shift in the business model. After our country suffered a massive public health crisis where reliable news was more important than ever, organizations lost funds and employees to adjust accordingly. Consequently, this left journalists and reporters without jobs.
Without reliable news sources, people are turning to social media, which isn’t always credible. For example, Facebook pages are people's opinions and not factual news. The opposite, however, is those community members that are not digitally connected and go without being informed. Individuals that are not informed or able to plug into those proper news outlets can affect more than just themselves, but the community at large.
The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit. They launched a campaign in 2022 to help new consumers identify factual news. The campaign was focused on “being informed, not misled.” For information and resources, visit newslit.org.