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The Crisis of Local Journalism: Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts
The Crisis of Local Journalism: Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts
상세정보
- 자료유형
- 학위논문 서양
- 최종처리일시
- 20260202105252
- ISBN
- 9798297618862
- DDC
- 070
- 저자명
- Paladhi, Arijit.
- 서명/저자
- The Crisis of Local Journalism: Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts
- 발행사항
- [Sl] : Indiana University, 2025
- 발행사항
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2025
- 형태사항
- 179 p
- 주기사항
- Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-04, Section: A.
- 주기사항
- Advisor: Peifer, Jason;Gruszczynski, Mike.
- 학위논문주기
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2025.
- 초록/해제
- 요약The decline of local journalism in the United States represents a critical threat to democratic governance. Nearly one-fifth of Americans live in news deserts - which are communities with limited or no access to reliable local news. Predicated on this threat, we draw upon the political economy of media, public goods theory, and media pluralism frameworks to establish journalism as a public good characterized by positive externalities. However, the market mechanisms in place today have either consistently failed to adequately provide these externalities or been superseded by neoliberal capitalism's thirst for pillaging profit at any cost.To that end, this dissertation's empirical analysis proceeds through two major studies. First, the theoretical analysis demonstrates how the confluence of technological disruption from digital platforms and these neoliberal deregulatory policies created conditions enabling aggressive financialized ownership - which we call greedy money models - to extract value from struggling newspapers while undermining their democratic functions. Using a stacked difference-in-differences design, we examine how private-equity-and-hedge-fund acquisitions of local newspapers affect electoral competitiveness in affected communities. Contrary to expectations of simple democratic decline, the findings reveal a surprising pattern: elections become substantially less competitive while simultaneously experiencing increases in voter turnout, declines in incumbent win rates, and increased candidate entry. These effects peak one year after acquisition before partially dissipating, suggesting immediate disruption to local political equilibrium followed by a degree of gradual adjustment.Second, we incorporate machine learning algorithms to identify counties that share similar socioeconomic profiles to news deserts. Addressing significant class imbalance in the data through various resampling techniques, the analysis finds that Random Forest combined with SMOTEENN is the strongest performer. The most significant predictor is the interaction between population density and GDP, highlighting how economic vulnerability intersects with demographic factors. Crucially, we incorporated neighboring counties' socioeconomic characteristics, which can help tease out how the formation of news deserts operates as a regional contagion rather than isolated local failures.These findings challenge conventional narratives about media ownership and democratic health. Rather than straightforward erosion, private equity acquisition triggers complex political reorganization in local communities. The temporal dynamics and spatial dependencies suggest specific intervention windows and the need for regional rather than purely local policy responses. Ultimately, this work demonstrates that the crisis of local journalism operates through patterns that, once understood, offer opportunities for intervention.
- 일반주제명
- Journalism
- 일반주제명
- Information science
- 일반주제명
- Film studies
- 키워드
- Data
- 키워드
- Machine learning
- 키워드
- News deserts
- 키워드
- Newspapers
- 키워드
- Private equity
- 기타저자
- Indiana University The Media School
- 기본자료저록
- Dissertations Abstracts International. 87-04A.
- 전자적 위치 및 접속
- 로그인 후 원문을 볼 수 있습니다.
MARC
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■00520260202105252
■006m o d
■007cr#unu||||||||
■020 ▼a9798297618862
■035 ▼a(MiAaPQ)AAI32277213
■040 ▼aMiAaPQ▼cMiAaPQ
■0820 ▼a070
■1001 ▼aPaladhi, Arijit.▼0(orcid)0009-0005-3422-5990
■24510▼aThe Crisis of Local Journalism: Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts
■260 ▼a[Sl]▼bIndiana University▼c2025
■260 1▼aAnn Arbor▼bProQuest Dissertations & Theses▼c2025
■300 ▼a179 p
■500 ▼aSource: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-04, Section: A.
■500 ▼aAdvisor: Peifer, Jason;Gruszczynski, Mike.
■5021 ▼aThesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2025.
■520 ▼aThe decline of local journalism in the United States represents a critical threat to democratic governance. Nearly one-fifth of Americans live in news deserts - which are communities with limited or no access to reliable local news. Predicated on this threat, we draw upon the political economy of media, public goods theory, and media pluralism frameworks to establish journalism as a public good characterized by positive externalities. However, the market mechanisms in place today have either consistently failed to adequately provide these externalities or been superseded by neoliberal capitalism's thirst for pillaging profit at any cost.To that end, this dissertation's empirical analysis proceeds through two major studies. First, the theoretical analysis demonstrates how the confluence of technological disruption from digital platforms and these neoliberal deregulatory policies created conditions enabling aggressive financialized ownership - which we call greedy money models - to extract value from struggling newspapers while undermining their democratic functions. Using a stacked difference-in-differences design, we examine how private-equity-and-hedge-fund acquisitions of local newspapers affect electoral competitiveness in affected communities. Contrary to expectations of simple democratic decline, the findings reveal a surprising pattern: elections become substantially less competitive while simultaneously experiencing increases in voter turnout, declines in incumbent win rates, and increased candidate entry. These effects peak one year after acquisition before partially dissipating, suggesting immediate disruption to local political equilibrium followed by a degree of gradual adjustment.Second, we incorporate machine learning algorithms to identify counties that share similar socioeconomic profiles to news deserts. Addressing significant class imbalance in the data through various resampling techniques, the analysis finds that Random Forest combined with SMOTEENN is the strongest performer. The most significant predictor is the interaction between population density and GDP, highlighting how economic vulnerability intersects with demographic factors. Crucially, we incorporated neighboring counties' socioeconomic characteristics, which can help tease out how the formation of news deserts operates as a regional contagion rather than isolated local failures.These findings challenge conventional narratives about media ownership and democratic health. Rather than straightforward erosion, private equity acquisition triggers complex political reorganization in local communities. The temporal dynamics and spatial dependencies suggest specific intervention windows and the need for regional rather than purely local policy responses. Ultimately, this work demonstrates that the crisis of local journalism operates through patterns that, once understood, offer opportunities for intervention.
■590 ▼aSchool code: 0093.
■650 4▼aJournalism
■650 4▼aInformation science
■650 4▼aFilm studies
■653 ▼aData
■653 ▼aMachine learning
■653 ▼aNews deserts
■653 ▼aNewspapers
■653 ▼aPrivate equity
■690 ▼a0391
■690 ▼a0723
■690 ▼a0900
■71020▼aIndiana University▼bThe Media School.
■7730 ▼tDissertations Abstracts International▼g87-04A.
■790 ▼a0093
■791 ▼aPh.D.
■792 ▼a2025
■793 ▼aEnglish
■85640▼uhttp://www.riss.kr/pdu/ddodLink.do?id=T17360022▼nKERIS▼z이 자료의 원문은 한국교육학술정보원에서 제공합니다.
