The likely imminent closure of the Toledo Blade, a 190-year-old publication, is yet another sad milestone in the long, slow decay of local news operations, particularly printed newspapers.
■ Toledo is a top-100 market by population, which would make it one of the largest American cities to go without a conventional print news source (or even a print/digital hybrid, as so many have gone) dedicated to local coverage. In some other places with newspapers that have either been hollowed out or closed down, digital-only news sites have popped up. No small number of these have been agenda-driven, representing both left-wing and right-wing sentiments. One might call them “gap-filler” sources.
■ Part of the problem that emerges with those sites is that their coverage tends to be intentionally and deeply biased, according to very predictable partisan framing of coverage that often emphasizes localized versions of national debates. Besides being unimaginative and frequently offputting to those who don’t share the outlet’s in-house bias, it tends to be a disservice to the local community.
■ People don’t necessarily want unbiased news coverage, but they do seek objectivity. The problem with many of the gap-filler sources is that even when they don’t explicitly seek to advance an agenda, they often still seek out a narrow and predictable set of boogeymen. The resulting coverage isn’t very organic, and as a result, it usually isn’t all that responsive to local interests.
■ We don’t really want news coverage that is completely neutral; most people actually want news coverage that has a rooting interest for the community. That rooting interest, though, is rarely well-served by reporting that centers on horse-race issues and predictable partisan bickering. Political news often isn’t very civic-minded.
■ Audiences desire objectivity about the facts and fairness in the representation of competing advocates, but they usually want the news outlet to have an interest in the outcome, as it affects the community at large. As conventional newsrooms have shrunk and editorial staffs have dwindled, it’s become harder to find shining examples to follow. But it is important that we find them -- or establish them anew -- because the public interest is ill-served by news deserts and conflict entrepreneurs.