Why Losing Our Newspapers Is Breaking Our Politics

There are no doubt many reasons for the rise of partisanship, but our research, using voting data from across the country over a four year period, recently uncovered an important one: the loss of local newspapers. As local newspapers disappear, citizens increasingly rely on national sources of political information, which emphasizes competition and conflict between the parties. Local newspapers, by contrast, serve as a central source of shared information, setting a common agenda. Readers of local newspapers feel more attached to their communities. Unless something is done, our politics will likely become ever more contentious and partisan as the media landscape consolidates and nationalizes. As newspapers continue to close, these dynamics are likely to get worse. The polarized electorate will continue to turn towards nationalized, partisan media outlets unless local news makes a comeback. 

[Matthew P. Hitt studies judgment and decision making in American political institutions. Joshua Darr is an assistant professor of political communication in the Manship School of Mass Communication and the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University. He studies American government and political communication with an emphasis on political behavior, campaign strategy and the media. Johanna Dunaway explores the intersection of media and politics as they relate to the institutional, contextual and technological factors that influence news media coverage and consumption, campaigns and political communication, public opinion, political attitudes and behavior, and electoral outcomes.]