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In news deserts, Trump won in a landslide

localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu · Paul Farhi · last updated
Donald Trump won the 2024 election with one of the smallest popular-vote margins in U.S. history, but in news deserts – counties lacking a professional source of local news – it was an avalanche.

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News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.

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Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model

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The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.

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The hollowing out of the local news ecosystem has been well documented; in some communities, efforts are underway to reverse the growing news desert.


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