Faced with a challenging environment of newspapers closing, shrinking staffs and resources and social media, The Texas Tribune on Thursday held a panel discussion to talk about how communities are impacted and what can be done to ensure Texans have access to reliable local news.
Held in the Zant Room of the Saulsbury Campus Center at Odessa College, the panel included Mitch Borden, Permian Basin reporter for Marfa Public Radio, Patrick Canty, publisher of the Odessa American, and Benjamin Toff, assistant professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Ellen Clegg, co-author of “What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts, and the Future of the Fourth Estate,” was unable to attend.
Nic Garcia, regions editor for The Texas Tribune, was the moderator. Garcia said a report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University reported late last year that the rate of local newspaper closures accelerated to 2.5 a week in 2023.
Between 2008 and 2021, the Pew Research Center measured that the industry shrunk by a quarter. Since 2008, they reported newsroom employment plummeted at U.S. newspapers while increasing the digital publishing sector.
Newspaper newsroom employment fell 57 percent from 71,000 jobs to 31,000 jobs. At the same time, the number of digital native newsroom employees rose 144 percent from 7,400 workers to 18,000 in 2020.
“Despite the sharp increase, the number of newsroom employees in digital native sector newsrooms remains about 13,000 below the number in traditional newspapers,” Garcia said. “Put another way, the internet, despite all of our best efforts is not saving the news industry. Instead, we are becoming a nation of 150 million truths.”
An audience member said digital journalism has a black eye because there’s “so much junk that goes around.” He asked how to get more good journalism like Marfa Public Radio, The Texas Tribune and others and get more people, including schools, to participate in that.
Canty said there are two ways.
“One is to act like a PGA golfer. In other words, I just focus on my game and do the best I can. And so to the extent that my news organization can continue to push the needle and do better, more high-quality work, I think that helps,” he said.
“The other thing is partnering with other media organizations. As things get harder and harder on each of us in this landscape, we find ourselves doing exactly that more and more. Collaborations tend to have some amazing outcomes that benefit the radio station that I’m partnering with, the PBS station or the local CBS affiliate. It helps the quality of their product and it helps the quality of mine. Also, we cross-promote and have a great time doing it together. We get to build friendships and professional relationships,” Canty added.
Borden said Marfa Public Radio has a lot of work to do in that area, but holding events like Thursday’s panel, whether it’s with schools or public engagements is a good idea.
“You can’t just do the reporting and post a story and expect people to see it,” Borden said.
He added that just going to people where they are is a great way to cultivate an audience and to let people know you’re out there “doing the kind of work you’re doing.”
Toff said listening to the public is helpful as is not assuming that there’s something wrong with the public because they’re not consuming your product.
“Try to understand why people are not interested in what you’re producing. Some of it is that some people don’t see themselves reflected and represented in that news and particularly young people. Making efforts to try to include them in the journalism and include them in listening sessions or events certainly is one way to try to step toward that,” Toff said.
He added that doing stories on things people care about is also a good step.
Canty said newspapers have to pick their shots as far as coverage.
“Primarily, we focus on being government watchdogs, covering city council, city hall, county government, school boards, giving that good hardcore coverage,” Canty said.
He added that Freedom of Information requests provide the newspaper access to all kinds of information that “winds up being really great stories” that keep readers informed. A lot of people say they didn’t know that was going on and they wind up doing something about it, he added.
Canty said social media allows other voices to come in but what’s been happening is the line between news and what’s opinion is blurred. A lot of people don’t understand there are separate sections for news and opinion in a news product.
“Anybody and their brother can go on Facebook and start spouting off their opinion and create a site and say this is my newspaper. I’m a citizen journalist and all it is, is filled with what they think and misinformation and sometimes it’s libelous,” he said. “People see that including people who say I just get my news off of TikTok … They don’t realize what they’re seeing and they buy it as the God’s honest truth. That kind of poisons the well, so to speak, and (it) doesn’t do any favors to a community. That’s the value of a newspaper, I will argue,” Canty said.
He added that the paper still abides by standards and practices to be objective so that people can get the information and make up their mind on what they think.
“I’m a big believer that we really do kind of do God’s work. Part of what makes a community work is civic engagement. People who are involved in the daily workings of their (community), they go to school board meetings, they’re engaged through their schools, their city government, their county government and because they’re engaged and they know what’s going on they’re able to make good government by keeping it accountable,” Canty said.
Newspapers continue to play an important role in that, he added.
“We’re the ones that keep people informed so they can be better engaged in their society and what you’re seeing now is it’s getting harder and harder to do that. Part of it is because a lot of readers just don’t find that kind of news sexy anymore. They don’t really want to read that,” Canty said.
That means they’re not as engaged in their society and holding their institutions accountable.
Borden noted that there are two newspapers, radio and TV stations in the Permian Basin, but it is a huge territory with a lot of things to cover.
“I would say some probably are being lost because of the lack of people out here with their eyes on different stories playing out. I also think that even though there’s a number of wonderful journalists in West Texas, the Permian Basin and Big Bend, we also have to ask ourselves what is their experience level? Are we retaining people for long term, or are people starting their careers here and leaving. If that’s the case, then I think every reporter is valuable and doing God’s work. If I was from Midland-Odessa, I would want people to live here and get to know this place because there’s a lot of nuances here. To really tell the stories that matter to readers and listeners, you need to know a place,” Borden said.
