IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/meanco/v11y2023i3p293-303.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

No People, No News: News Deserts and Areas at Risk in Spain

Author

Listed:
  • María-Cruz Negreira-Rey

    (Department of Communication Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain)

  • Jorge Vázquez-Herrero

    (Department of Communication Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain)

  • Xosé López-García

    (Department of Communication Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain)

Abstract

In recent decades Spain has suffered a gradual process of depopulation and exodus from rural areas to large capitals. The España Vaciada political and social movement denounces the country’s territorial inequality, while the government is working on a strategic plan to address the demographic challenge. At the media level, there is concern about citizens’ access to a local and quality journalistic service, key to the strengthening of communities and their democratic functioning. The main objective of this research is to explore the phenomenon of news deserts in Spain, identifying the areas that can be considered news deserts and those that are at risk of becoming so, based on the mapping of digital media in the country. The characteristics of the digital media of the autonomous communities with the highest presence of news deserts are studied to ascertain whether the risk factors of population or richness index are connected to their appearance. The results reveal that 6,304 (77.53%) Spanish municipalities can be considered news deserts, inhabited by 11.6 million people, 24.51% of the country’s total population. In addition, another 523 municipalities are at risk of becoming news deserts. In the regions with the largest number of news deserts, there is a clear concentration of media in the main capitals and a weak ecosystem of local and hyperlocal media. Depopulation is the main risk factor in the loss of media and news coverage in local communities.

Suggested Citation

  • María-Cruz Negreira-Rey & Jorge Vázquez-Herrero & Xosé López-García, 2023. "No People, No News: News Deserts and Areas at Risk in Spain," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(3), pages 293-303.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v:11:y:2023:i:3:p:293-303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/6727
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Samuel Negredo & María-Pilar Martínez-Costa & James Breiner & Ramón Salaverría, 2020. "Journalism Expands in Spite of the Crisis: Digital-Native News Media in Spain," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 73-85.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Konhäusner & Marius Thielmann & Veronica Câmpian & Dan-Cristian Dabija, 2021. "Crowdfunding for Independent Print Media: E-Commerce, Marketing, and Business Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Ramón Salaverría, 2020. "Exploring Digital Native News Media," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 1-4.
    3. Alfonso Vara-Miguel & Cristina Sánchez-Blanco & Charo Sádaba Chalezquer & Samuel Negredo, 2021. "Funding Sustainable Online News: Sources of Revenue in Digital-Native and Traditional Media in Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v:11:y:2023:i:3:p:293-303. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.