Columbia Journalism Review: “…the Media Deserts Project [is] a research effort that is trying to map the ways in which many of America’s rural communities are indeed impoverished by the lack of fresh, daily local news and information. As daily newspapers cut and slashed personnel through the Great Recession (or closed completely), they also reduced their coverage of local government and public affairs on their perimeters and in their urban cores. Ownership of local radio stations consolidated in rural areas around right-leaning media organizations with overt political agendas. Broadband access and last-mile challenges in rural communities compounded the issue, making the digital divide as much about geography as it was about income disparities. The Media Deserts Project is about mapping these changes using geographic information systems down to the ZIP code. The goal is to identify the scope of the problem and, in so doing, help community members and journalism entrepreneurs design localized solutions…” [h/t Pete Weiss for these links]

See also – As local news outlets struggle to survive, citizen-led efforts are stepping up