Although Long Island sits in one of the biggest media markets in the world, several local communities have become “news deserts” -- where newspapers are in decline and local news coverage is shrinking -- producing a measurable and consequential deterioration in civic dialogue. The emergence of news deserts is a national phenomenon, posing serious challenges to underrepresented communities and grassroots organizations. This panel will present the early results of a nearly yearlong Hofstra University Presidential Research Project examining news deserts within our own backyard and continue a conversation that we have already begun on how to address the crisis in local news coverage, particularly within marginalized communities.
