By Stacy M. Brown
News deserts, areas lacking access to reliable local news coverage, have become a growing concern, affecting approximately 70 million people across the United States, even stretching into Canada.
The absence of local news can lead to a loss of information, decreased community engagement, erosion of accountability, and negative economic impacts.
However, media experts said publishers could still implement several strategies to combat news deserts and keep local news alive.
“Local news plays a significant role in informing communities and holding local officials accountable,” said Keenan Beavis, founder of Longhouse Media, one of Canada’s largest Indigenous-owned digital marketing agencies.
Several media experts also noted that collaboration among newspapers, especially those owned by African Americans, could bring about positive change.
For instance, if the more than 200 African American-owned newspapers and media companies in the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) collaborated, they could significantly contribute to addressing news deserts and amplifying marginalized voices.
To that end, Word In Black began on June 7, 2021.
They realized that the voice of Black America needs to be amplified and elevated not just locally but nationally.
word in black founders
In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, 10 NNPA member publications – AFRO News, The Atlanta Voice, Dallas Weekly, Houston Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New York Amsterdam News, Sacramento Observer, Seattle Medium, St. Louis American, and The Washington Informer – launched a news collaborative unlike any other in the industry.
“They realized that the voice of Black America needs to be amplified and elevated not just locally but nationally,” the collaboration’s founders wrote.
“Our publishers saw what was happening in the United States as a call to action — one which the Black press has answered since the founding of the first Black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, in 1827.”
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