Death Of Journalism: Increasing Number Of Newsrooms Hardly Have A Single Reporter

The following report is by The Trends Journal:

Newspapers across the U.S. may have the content but don’t have reporters to produce it.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the growth of ghost newsrooms across the U.S. that have no journalists and “little to no on-the-ground presence” in communities where they publish.

The paper focused on a newspaper called The Gleaner, in Henderson, KY, which used to house about 20 staffers. Its content is mainly produced by Gannett, its parent company and owner of USA Today. The WSJ said the paper relies on some freelance work by a married couple for a few stories each month.

The WSJ said dozens of papers across the U.S. don’t have one dedicated reporter to fill its columns. 

Penelope Abernathy, a visiting professor at Northwestern University, told the paper that many of these papers don’t have the staff to “provide the sort of communication the residents in that community need to make wise decisions.”

The WSJ noted that the news business has been in a state of upheaval for the past decade as more readers turn to free online content. Social media companies have benefited from the vast amount of information that people can obtain for free online. 

Many printed newspapers have folded because advertisers get a better return on their dollar by advertising on search engines. The WSJ said, from a business perspective, sharing content on multiple platforms makes financial sense because it can cut back on reporting staffers.

Communities are missing out on reporters to keep local officials in check.

Chuck Stinnett, a freelancer at the Henderson Gleaner, told the paper that in the 1980s, reporters from the paper “were always there, always watching, always reporting.”

“The presence of somebody scribbling notes in the corner—as is, I’m sure, in every town—helped keep city fathers on the straight-and-narrow.”

Gannett refused to tell the WSJ how many papers it has with “ghost staffs,” but said it has a “network of shared resources” around its USA Today brand that “supports and champions our small and mid-sized newsrooms.”

Gannett cut about 600 employees last year and told the WSJ that this year, it will hire “more than 500 content roles.”

TRENDPOST: Gerald Celente has long said journalism is dead in the U.S. 

It is particularly rich that Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal is reporting on this topic, given that News Corporation has changed the way people read their news.

If you look at The New York Post’s homepage right now, there’s a good chance that The UK’s Daily Mail has many of the same stories, angled in the same way as Murdoch’s other New York paper. 

Why?

It’s far cheaper for a news outlet to have a newsroom full of “rewriters” than journalists. These individuals are usually tasked with writing about six stories on topics they know nothing about, while citing other outlets that had to pay for some minimal original reporting. 

That’s why there are so many news articles based on social media posts. They click well and are easy to produce with whatever intern is sitting around who would go crazy for a byline on NYPost.com.

The WSJ report focused mainly on the impact that having no journalists has on a local scale. When you pull back to a national scale, you find out that most of the content that you read on Ukraine and Israel are written in New York City offices by former interns who didn’t get the job they really wanted. Their editors know that no source is to be truly believed until it is “confirmed” by the U.S. government—thus, these outlets produce government-approved propaganda that will never be disproven. 

TREND FORECAST: Going back to our 1 December 2016 Trends Journal, “THE FOURTH ESTATE: RIP,” true journalism in the United States and around the world is dead.

And as we reported in the 29 June 2021 Trends Journal, “U.S. INTEREST, TRUST IN MEDIA ON THE WANE,”  we note the current reality of an “Un-Free” press and the public’s disgust with the corporate media emphasize that there has never been a better time in recent history for a true mainstream media network. It is an OnTrendpreneur® opportunity of the century.

---

AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Unfortunately, I don’t see this as an opportunity. It takes ridiculous amounts of money just to get notice and found online and through social media platforms; otherwise, start-ups in the journalism sector (like The WinePress) are at the mercy of the corporate elites and the algorithms, that have deep pockets and continuously ratchet up the censorship on a routine basis. Both truisms apply: it’s pay to play; and, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

This of course plays into the AI revolution and the complete outmoding of actual writers and journalists. Just earlier this week Sports Illustrated was caught red-handed publishing articles generated by AI and fake personas. But this is becoming the industry standard, and in no time at all most of the big news outlets and networks will be totally AI-based.

Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Isaiah 59:15

---

[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

The WinePress needs your support! If God has laid it on your heart to want to contribute, please prayerfully consider donating to this ministry. If you cannot gift a monetary donation, then please donate your fervent prayers to keep this ministry going! Thank you and may God bless you.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE