News-media roundup: 29 states are fact-check 'deserts'; Gannett planning third round of personnel cuts this year

Duke Reporters Lab map, adapted by The Rural Blog; click to enlarge

"Amid the political lies and misinformation that spread across the country throughout the 2022 midterm elections, statements by candidates in 29 states rarely faced the scrutiny of independent fact-checkers" because there weren't any, report Erica Ryan, Mark Stencel and Belen Bricchi of Duke Reporters Lab. They identified "46 locally focused fact-checking projects during this year’s campaign in 21 states." In the other 29, "residents may encounter occasional one-off fact-checks from their state’s media outlets."

"Of the outlets that generated fact-checks at the state and local level this year, more than half are local television stations," the researchers report. "That’s a change over the past two decades, when newspapers and their websites were the primary outlets for local fact-checks. Almost all local fact-checking projects are run by media outlets, while several are based at universities or nonprofit organizations."

Gannett Co., America's leading newspaper publisher, will lay off 200 more newsroom employees, about 6 percent of its news workforce, it said Thursday. Those affected will be told Dec. 1 and 2.

The cuts are "the company’s third move to slash costs in the last six months," notes Rick Edmonds of The Poynter Institute. "After posting a big loss in the second quarter, Gannett laid off more than 400 employees and said it was leaving 400 more open positions vacant. Then in October it imposed a week’s unpaid mandatory leave, suspended contributions to 401(k) plans and asked employees to consider a voluntary separation offer. Those actions were all company-wide. Thursday’s was directed just to the news division."

As it has cut payrolls, Gannett has also been selling smaller newspapers, primarily to Cherry Road Media. Its Plains regional editor said in August that such markets may be better served by other owners, and Gannett is concentrating on preserving the quality of its top for papers. It has 200.