Our weekly program, Making Democracy Work, is a collaboration between KSMU Radio and the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri. It's hosted and produced by volunteers from the LWV, and it airs each Monday morning at 9:45 on KSMU.
In this episode of our local program Making Democracy Work, Michele Breshears speaks with Amos Bridges, editor-in-chief of the Springfield News-Leader.
Breshears: As news habits evolve and social media becomes a major source of information for many people, local journalism faces both challenges and opportunities. Today, we'll discuss why local newspapers remain relevant and important to the communities they serve. So, Amos, what effect does social media have on newspapers' ability to stay relevant?
Bridges: Well, I think it's part of a larger shift in the economy, or certainly kind of the online economy, in that it's all about attention now, and it's all about getting people's attention, monetizing it in some way and then even controlling how, you know, what information people are able to access easily or what information is being fed to them, you know, by an algorithm.
And so, it's been a really significant challenge over the last few years for journalism to find its way in that new ecosystem that in some ways can make it easier to reach readers. In a lot of ways throws up various roadblocks. And I think it's also changing what people look for when you have a million things at your fingertips at any given moment, people, I think, are less inclined to interact with information that's maybe uncomfortable or challenging. And frankly, sometimes is boring, important, but sometimes boring. And so, it's something that we have been grappling with, continue to grapple with, and I don't know that anyone has completely figured that out yet.
Breshears: So, in light of that, what can local newspapers provide that people are unlikely to find from social media sources alone?
Bridges: What journalism offers is what it's always offered and what really sets it apart...you'll see different variations of this, but one that I like is this kind of three pillars. One is a discipline of verification. That is something before you publish -- you work to confirm that it's accurate and you continue to do that throughout the reporting process and even afterwards. The others [pillars] are independence and a focus on accountability. And while you sometimes might find one or two of those things in social media, you rarely find all three together.
All of that goes into how trustworthy something is. And I think that we're always better off making decisions with accurate information rather than feelings and opinion. That's a battle sometimes to get that information in front of readers when we don't necessarily control the means of reaching them. You know, when you're trying to reach people online and other people are in control of that algorithm.
Breshears: What is something you wish people knew about newspapers in today's world?
Bridges: That's a really interesting question. And I think probably the most important thing is that, you know, these are community members who are, you know, reporting the stories and writing the stories and shooting photos for the stories. And they are all doing their best. And they also need to feed their families and pay their student loan bills and all those other things. And so, you know, I think we have been very accustomed over the last several decades that, you know, anything online ought to be free or there's this idea that it's all being paid for by the ads that...you might be seeing alongside it. And that's not completely true. And so, I think people want accurate, verified, useful journalism. Someone has to produce that, and they need to be paid for it. And so, and some of the old ways of paying for it are not as effective as they used to be. Keeping that idea in mind that just like you used to pay for a copy of the newspaper at the newsstand, you still need to pay for it one way or another, whether you're reading it online or elsewhere.
Breshears: If people want to learn more or if they want to become engaged in some way, what would you recommend?
Bridges: I think just find those local news sources in your community. We have a lot of really healthy, engaging newspapers in counties across Missouri. A lot of them, you know, [are] weekly newspapers. They may not have a huge staff, but they're working really hard to inform people about their communities and searching those out and supporting those folks, even if it doesn't just show up in your social media feed, is really important and engaging with them. You know, write a letter to the editor, let them know when there's some coverage that you appreciated or if there's some coverage that you'd like to see. Because I think that newspapers welcome that sort of engagement and want to make sure that they're responding to readers.