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Places and Spaces Without News: The Contested Phenomenon of News Deserts

Author

Listed:
  • Agnes Gulyas

    (School of Creative Arts and Industries, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK)

  • Joy Jenkins

    (Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri, USA)

  • Annika Bergström

    (Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

News deserts have gained prominence both in academic literature and policy discussions about local news in recent years. Although there is no agreed definition of the term, it usually refers to the lack of or diminishing availability, access, or use of local news or media in a community. It is seen as a significant phenomenon that highlights inequalities in local news provisions, challenges of local media operations in the digital environment, and issues around the quality of local journalism and the critical information needs of communities. This thematic issue aims to contribute to the field by bringing together different approaches to the topic, considering varied empirical studies and methodological designs, and providing perspectives from countries around the world with different media systems and cultures. The articles in the thematic issue address three broad issues: approaches to studying news deserts, local news production and news deserts, and the impact of news deserts on communities. Overall, the contributions reveal that the presence of a news desert is not a simple question of a locality having or not having a local media outlet. The concept is better understood as processes affecting access and quality of local news involving places, news media outlets and production, communities, and audiences. We end the editorial highlighting areas for further research, including the need for more holistic, conceptual, and comparative work on the topic.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnes Gulyas & Joy Jenkins & Annika Bergström, 2023. "Places and Spaces Without News: The Contested Phenomenon of News Deserts," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 285-289.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v11:y:2023:i:3:p:285-289
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.v11i3.7612
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gunnar Nygren, 2023. "Local Journalism With State Support," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 401-403.
    2. Patrick Ferrucci & Teri Finneman & Meg Heckman & Pamela E. Walck, 2023. "A Discursive Evolution: Trade Publications Explain News Deserts to United States Journalists," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 371-380.
    3. Zixue Tai & Bai He & Jianping Liu, 2023. "Local News Deserts in China: The Role of Social Media and Personal Communication Networks," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 426-436.
    4. Penelope Muse Abernathy, 2023. "News Deserts: A Research Agenda for Addressing Disparities in the United States," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 290-292.
    5. Marco Magasic & Kristy Hess & Julie Freeman, 2023. "Examining the Social, Civic, and Political Impact of Local Newspaper Closure in Outback Australia," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 404-413.
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    Cited by:

    1. Arijit Paladhi, 2025. "Predicting news deserts using supervised machine learning," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 1-29, May.

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