Can Podcasting Replace The Death Of Local Journalism?

 In 2019, reporter Alexis Madrigal wrote a story in the Atlantic titled, "Local News Is Dying, and Americans Have No Idea." The subtitle was, "While the industry nose-dives, a large majority of the country thinks it is doing great."

  According to research by the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism. That has led to the rise of hollowed-out “ghost papers” and communities across the country without any local paper.

But newspaper reporters used to be the backbone of every local journalism ecosystem. National digital-only news outlets have not filled that local journalism space, and the local papers that survive have been purchased in fire-sale mode by entitled billionaires.

Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund long criticized by advocates who say it prioritizes profits over journalism, owns The Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and Boston Herald as part of its Digital First Media Group.

Alden then completed a $630 million deal that gave it full ownership of the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, and several other newspapers. 

Alden becomes the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher behind Gannett, which operates USA Today.

 With local newspapers continuing to be in hospice care, nationally known newspapers have gone in search of ways to utilize digital as a monetization resource instead of the enemy plunging a dagger into the heart of its old-timey, ink and paper distribution system.

Prominent newspapers like The New York Times and Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon) have survived the print journalism apocalypse and are now clawing back to financial respectability and even growth.

Their vehicle for improving their financial and reputational portfolio?

Podcasting. 

Every large newspaper has entered the podcasting space.

The New York Times has been arguably the most successful, with a large roster of podcasts that report millions of downloads. It's daily news podcast called The Daily regularly tops the podcast charts. Other popular podcasts include The Argument, The Book Review, First Person, Modern Love, and Still Processing.

It's not a "throw it up against the wall and see what sticks" media strategy. The Times has carefully developed podcasts that fit their brand (loved by some and hated by others) and simulate the vibe of their editorial marque.

For newspapers like The New York Times, podcasts make economic sense. Production costs can be pricey but not break the bank. Moreover, the journalists that work at the newspaper can double as podcast hosts with expensive hiring of on-air talent. For example, Times reporters like Michelle Goldberg, Ross Douthat, and Frank Bruni have excelled at audio. 

Moreover, the Times and other newspapers use ad time on their podcasts to hawk digital subscriptions for their newspaper, and the growth of those subscriptions indicates that the strategy is working.

"Newspapers that start podcasts can bring in and attract a whole new customer base," says podcast consultant George Witt. "Podcast listeners are younger than the average newspaper reader, so the company can leverage their podcasts to embrace a new demographic."

At the Washington Post, its year-old daily newsletter, The 7, has expanded into a podcast this fall. The daily briefing targeting readers in its local market has already been available in a speech-to-text format, and based on that success it will become a full-fledged podcast next month.

The Washington Post said: "Making The 7 available as a podcast will help reach new listeners since it will be available on traditional audio apps as well as on smart speakers. It will also give us an entry into the morning daily podcast marketplace, since its Post Reports podcast currently targets afternoon commuters."

This podcast strategy is not limited to the Times and the Post. The Los Angeles Times has an expanding slate of podcasts, from Gimme Shelter about California's well-publicized housing shortage to The Times, which is an audio version of the newspaper.

The Chicago Tribune may have the most "Chicago" of podcasts with Deep Dish Baseball, Bear Download about the Chicago Bears, and Chewing about food, including deep dish pizza.  

So as large newspapers gradually climb out of the print apocalypse, using digital subscriptions and podcasting as tools to rebound, can local journalism implement the same game plan?

The short answer is probably not. One reason for the increasing polarization in our society is the inevitable extinction of sustainable local journalism. Without these local papers to keep politicians honest and provide local news that readers won't call "fake news," disinformation and misinformation replicate like the most infectious virus possible.

Today, people revel in confirmation bias via the trash heap of information free floating in social media. Even worse, many Republicans have decamped to their own social media sites like Parlor, so they can freely spread conspiracy theories and disinformation. Local journalism is no longer that climate control system that can modulate the temperature of the populace.

The glimmer of hope that podcasting offers to local journalism is the lower cost of entry into the medium. Podcasting began in the early 2000s with basement podcasters on shoestring budgets, often discussing local events, issues, and people. 

The question is: can low-budget, local podcasts that focus on  "neighborhood" concerns replace the local newspaper that has gone the way of the landline telephone?

There's a guy in Bakersfield doing a podcast on local environmental issues. There are two women in Spokane doing a podcast on protecting the local forest. Are there more? Hopefully.

 If not, shouldn't there be?

Not everyone can pen an eloquent op-ed about an important local issue, but everyone can talk. 

 William Jennings Bryan once said, "eloquent speech is not from lip to ear, but from heart-to-heart."

Instead of podcasting being infected with human barbed wire like Steve Bannon, couldn't podcasting become the province of local heroes exposing political corruption, investigating corporate malfeasance, identifying environmental destruction, and fingering white-collar criminal activity?