As the U.S. Supreme Court mulls a pivotal case involving the construction of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, one journalist considers the role local journalism can play in shaping local opinions about pipeline construction.
Many of the North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia counties the pipeline will cross are poor and rural, and some have large minority populations. Many do not have a strong local-news ecosystem, either because metropolitan papers have cut back coverage or local newspapers have shuttered, never existed or fell down on the job, Lyndsey Gilpin writes for the Columbia Journalism Review. Gilpin is the founder and editor of Southerly, an independent media organization that covers ecology, justice and culture in the American South.
According to the University of North Carolina's Penny Abernathy's research on news deserts, "in about half of the 25 counties along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route, print news comprises a single weekly paper; several weekly or daily papers cover more than one county," Gilpin reports.
When the pipeline was first proposed in 2014, local and regional newspapers reported on it (some still do) and several nationwide news publications covered it, but comprehensive coverage has mostly faded as the process wears on. Local and regional news coverage is often the only way such places receive any press attention; national media mostly tends to "parachute in to cover major updates or catastrophes or if they need a tie-in to President Trump’s policies—a dynamic that can perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes about these places," Gilpin writes.
Meanwhile, the absence of local news media "leaves ample space for powerful campaigns by [Duke Energy] and [Dominion Energy], the pipeline’s developers and buyers of its natural gas, as well as industry-aligned lobbyists and politicians, to shape the pipeline narrative," Gilpin writes. "Another result is misinformation and confusion about the status of a massive energy project that affects tens of thousands of people, several endangered species, and a variety of fragile ecosystems. The number of permanent jobs the pipeline is estimated to create varies, depending on whom you speak with. In some cases, property owners have been caught unaware of their rights or legal options when Dominion came knocking to claim eminent domain."
Local reporters who would like to do in-depth reporting on the pipeline often have little time and few resources to do so, though projects like ProPublica's Local Reporting Network have helped, Gilpin writes. Most local reporters only have enough bandwidth to focus on reaction stories.
Independent journalist Mason Adams of the Roanoke area, who has covered pipelines for various news outlets over the past few years, said such coverage is complicated, and local reporters need more training to deal with Freedom of Information Act requests, regulatory agencies, major companies, and court reporting. "Smaller papers can’t set aside an entire body to cover this, much less over five to six years," Adams told Gilpin.
Many of the North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia counties the pipeline will cross are poor and rural, and some have large minority populations. Many do not have a strong local-news ecosystem, either because metropolitan papers have cut back coverage or local newspapers have shuttered, never existed or fell down on the job, Lyndsey Gilpin writes for the Columbia Journalism Review. Gilpin is the founder and editor of Southerly, an independent media organization that covers ecology, justice and culture in the American South.
According to the University of North Carolina's Penny Abernathy's research on news deserts, "in about half of the 25 counties along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route, print news comprises a single weekly paper; several weekly or daily papers cover more than one county," Gilpin reports.
When the pipeline was first proposed in 2014, local and regional newspapers reported on it (some still do) and several nationwide news publications covered it, but comprehensive coverage has mostly faded as the process wears on. Local and regional news coverage is often the only way such places receive any press attention; national media mostly tends to "parachute in to cover major updates or catastrophes or if they need a tie-in to President Trump’s policies—a dynamic that can perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes about these places," Gilpin writes.
Meanwhile, the absence of local news media "leaves ample space for powerful campaigns by [Duke Energy] and [Dominion Energy], the pipeline’s developers and buyers of its natural gas, as well as industry-aligned lobbyists and politicians, to shape the pipeline narrative," Gilpin writes. "Another result is misinformation and confusion about the status of a massive energy project that affects tens of thousands of people, several endangered species, and a variety of fragile ecosystems. The number of permanent jobs the pipeline is estimated to create varies, depending on whom you speak with. In some cases, property owners have been caught unaware of their rights or legal options when Dominion came knocking to claim eminent domain."
Local reporters who would like to do in-depth reporting on the pipeline often have little time and few resources to do so, though projects like ProPublica's Local Reporting Network have helped, Gilpin writes. Most local reporters only have enough bandwidth to focus on reaction stories.
Independent journalist Mason Adams of the Roanoke area, who has covered pipelines for various news outlets over the past few years, said such coverage is complicated, and local reporters need more training to deal with Freedom of Information Act requests, regulatory agencies, major companies, and court reporting. "Smaller papers can’t set aside an entire body to cover this, much less over five to six years," Adams told Gilpin.
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