News Deserts, Real Consequences: What Happens to a Community Without News

If you're reading this in a local newspaper, you should feel lucky after a study showing how news coverage affects our world. From all indications, the gathering of local news has been targeted for a spot on the extinct species list. According to the Mississippi Media Lab, an arm of the University of Mississippi School of Journalism, "Here's a number that should worry you: more than 200 counties in America no longer have a local newspaper.

None. Not a reporter at a city council meeting. Not a single soul who is tracking how your tax dollars get spent.

We call these news deserts, and Mississippi is not immune." The lab is directed by the legendary Marshall Ramsey, once the political cartoonist at The Clarion Ledger and top editor at Mississippi Today. He says the lab's mission is to "connect student-produced news content with professional media outlets while expanding coverage in communities that lack sufficient local news reporting." Ramsey, you'll recall, is the brother of Dave Ramsey, known for dispensing personal financial advice to the listening public via radio. "I've spent thirty years traveling this state, and I can tell you that local news isn't a luxury.

It's the thing that lets a community catch a bad contract before it's signed, celebrate a teacher who's quietly changing lives, or simply know what happened at the courthouse last Tuesday. When that disappears, we don't just lose information - we lose the ability to govern ourselves well," Marshall Ramsey wrote. Georgia-native Ramsey came to Jackson in 1996 to work at The Clarion Ledger, quickly becoming a leading editorial voice through intellect, art and passion.

He puts UM journalism students through a rigorous regimen in the lab he runs. He sends them out to cover city and county board meetings of many types, intently covering elected officials, some of whom don't want them there. They never have (wanted them there).

"They provide extra eyes and ears in our community. These students aren't just learning journalism. They'll be in the room and getting the facts that will help you make good decisions about your community.

And honestly, working alongside them is one of the things that will keep me hopeful about where this profession is headed," said Ramsey. These are desperate times in the news business. Trade analysts "Rebuild Local News" and "Muck Rack" report that 70-percent of U.S. counties are severely under covered.

Their recent survey shockingly showed a famine of education and healthcare coverage among all U.S. counties. They found no education articles mentioning a community by name in 77-percent of counties in the first quarter of 2026. Seventy-six percent produced no local health coverage.

The same pattern holds for environment and transportation coverage. Also disturbing is the finding that crime rises with lessened coverage. Another report by news analyst Stuart N.

Brotman for the trade magazine Editor and Publisher concerning a study by Reuters Institute "lands like a dispatch from two parallel universes. One universe is populated by Americans 55 and older, who still reach for television, newspaper websites and the morning broadcasts. The other is inhabited by 18-to-24year-olds who have never really lived in the first universe at all and have no plans to visit." Another E&P finding showed that where strong journalism exists, civic participation is high, an important point for any community.

Said Ramsey: "If you do have a local paper, support it. Feed it. Thank the staff.

Not only are they your neighbors, but they are also your community's watchdog." If there is no newspaper where you live, perhaps an entrepreneur will consider starting one. ---Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.