3 ms·
I don't think folks appreciate just how tetering-on-the-edge local corruption already was before local newspapers started to die. Expect to see a lot more crazy
by brimble 5y ago
I don't think folks appreciate just how tetering-on-the-edge local corruption already was before local newspapers started to die. Expect to see a lot more crazy stories coming out when small towns and small cities go so far into private-fiefdom territory that someone outside notices. The only remaining significant bulwark to ruining-the-country levels of corruption is state auditors—and that's if they're not corrupt themselves.
Larger cities may be OK a little while longer since they usually still have some local investigative reporting.
It's one of several reasons I'm no longer sure the Web is compatible with healthy democracy.
- WesternWind 5y agoOne thing I have read about though, is that, since unlike radio or tv stations there is no real regulator of who owns how many websites, conservative media networks are creating news sites for towns using a local contractor for local stories, and then having national or international stories be presented with a conservative slant. https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/07/hundreds-of-hyperpartisan-sites-are-masquerading-as-local-news-this-map-shows-if-theres-one-near-you/ https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/07/hundreds-of-hyperpartisan-...
- iratewizard 5y agoThere is more than one solution to the problem. As the problem gets worse, the need for a new solution will overcome the friction that was preventing that solution from taking place. Upper government ought to be proactive about helping those solutions along, so fixing the problem doesn't involve killings.