Carolyn Byerly, a Thurston County League board member, addresses the audience at a recent “Local News Crisis!” forum at Saint Martin’s University. Also speaking were Jill Severn, a columnist for The JOLT and author of the LWVWA’s “The State We’re In” civics textbook series; and Bill Will, former executive director of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

A “Local News Crisis!” forum co-hosted by the Thurston County League in early April drew 300 people to hear how monopoly ownership and hedge-fund buyouts have helped create news deserts across the country. Those areas are served by no local news outlets.  

Nationally recognized media scholar Victor Pickard, via Zoom, emphasized the danger the situation poses to democracy. 

Both policy and market failures are to blame for the loss of local news, Pickard said. Federal policies have enabled consolidation.

The result is a lack of news and a proliferation of misinformation — much of which appears on social media, to which the public increasingly turns for information. 

Other speakers included Carolyn Byerly, professor emerita, Howard University, and a LWVTC board member; Jill Severn, columnist for The Journal of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, and author of the state League’s “The State We’re In” civics textbook series; Bill Will, former executive director of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and chair of The JOLT board of directors; and Danny Stusser, founder and publisher of The JOLT (the Journal of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater).  

Byerly shared details of the state League’s study “The Decline in Local News and Its Impact on Democracy,” which was completed in 2022 and led to adoption of the state League’s, and ultimately, the national League’s, position. The position states that government has a responsibility to support conditions under which credible local journalism can survive and thrive.  It supports new funding models for local news. The JOLT, a non-profit organization, represents one of those emerging models.  

The JOLT and OlyFed, a mutual savings bank, also co-sponsored the event, which took place at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey.