What happens to a community after it loses its newspaper? New book uses McKeesport, Pa., as a case study

A new book details what happens to a Pennsylvania town of 17,500 as it became a news desert after its 130-year-old newspaper closed in 2015. Through interviews with politicians, business owners and other community members, the book, Death of the Daily News, examines the holes left in daily community life after the McKeesport Daily News closed, author Andrew Conte told WESA, Pittsburgh's NPR station.  

“Some of the public officials were like, ‘This is great. Nobody's going to be looking over our shoulder anymore. Nobody going to be asking difficult questions’,” Conte told the station. “But at the same time, there's not anybody there promoting all the things that you do.”

Conte found that the community "deeply mourns the loss of 'shared narrative' the paper created with everything from birth notices and obituaries to ads from local shops, high school baseball scores and announcements of community picnics," writes Bill O'Driscoll, in a review of the book for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

McKeesport in Allegheny County (Wikipedia)

Facebook pages and other organic, online local content have sought to fill that gap, but that information can be tainted by posters who are one-sided or looking to advance their own interests, the book reports. WESA notes that nearby news-media professionals have also stepped into the gap. A nearby paper has one reporter in the town, and a former reporter has founded an online outlet that covers municipal issues. The Point Park University's Center for Media Innovation, which is headed by Conte, also runs a grassroots, community newsroom that aims to help citizens produce their own original stories and photography. “As professional journalists, we have the ability and responsibility at this point to work with citizens to help them do a better job,” Conte said.

Conte is on the program of the Oct. 12-14 #News-Media Business Summit, hosted by the 360 Media Alliance, Editor & Publisher, the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association and the Inter-State Circulation Managers Association, at the Harrisburg Sheraton.