News inequality refers to the varying presence of quality news, and unequal access to news. Though not a new phenomenon, news inequality will become more salient and more acute in 2020, especially as it relates to the presidential election.
As an increasing number of news ecosystem studies are showing, news deserts — places where there are negligible amounts of real journalism — have become increasingly common. We’ve also seen in the revelation of the insufficiencies in the FCC’s broadband mapping that millions of people in the U.S. are still without quality, reliable internet access.
News inequality matters in the same way that unequal access to education matters: Without trustworthy, reliable local and national journalism, the democratic political system breaks down. Alleviating news inequality will continue to be a priority in 2020 for the many foundations and other organizations working to implement new sustainable business models and grow new journalism organizations for the digital age.
Sarah Stonbely is the research director at the Center for Cooperative Media.
News inequality refers to the varying presence of quality news, and unequal access to news. Though not a new phenomenon, news inequality will become more salient and more acute in 2020, especially as it relates to the presidential election.
As an increasing number of news ecosystem studies are showing, news deserts — places where there are negligible amounts of real journalism — have become increasingly common. We’ve also seen in the revelation of the insufficiencies in the FCC’s broadband mapping that millions of people in the U.S. are still without quality, reliable internet access.
News inequality matters in the same way that unequal access to education matters: Without trustworthy, reliable local and national journalism, the democratic political system breaks down. Alleviating news inequality will continue to be a priority in 2020 for the many foundations and other organizations working to implement new sustainable business models and grow new journalism organizations for the digital age.
Sarah Stonbely is the research director at the Center for Cooperative Media.
Kevin D. Grant The free press stands against authoritarians’ attacks on truth
Nathalie Malinarich Betting on loyalty
Anthony Nadler Clash of Clans: Election Edition
Bill Adair A Nobel Prize, a Brad Pitt film, and a Taylor Swift song
Mira Lowe The year of student-powered journalism
Alice Antheaume Trade “politics” for “power”
Moreno Cruz Osório In Brazil, collaboration in a time of state attacks
Craig Newmark Formalizing newsrooms’ battle against disinformation
Sara K. Baranowski A big year for little newspapers
Nicholas Jackson What’s left of local gets comfortable with reader support
Rick Berke Incoming fire from both left and right
Hossein Derakhshan AI can’t conjure up an Errol Morris
Fiona Spruill The climate crisis gets the coverage it deserves
Carl Bialik Journalists will try running the whole shop
Ben Werdmuller Use the tools of journalism to save it
Candis Callison Taking a cue from Indigenous journalists on climate change
Zizi Papacharissi A president leads, the press follows, reality fades
Cristina Kim Public media stops trying to serve “everybody”
Alfred Hermida and Mary Lynn Young The promise of nonprofit journalism
Kourtney Bitterly Transparency isn’t just a desire, it’s an expectation
Barbara Gray Join local libraries on the frontlines of civic engagement
Whitney Phillips A time to question core beliefs
Laura E. Davis Know the context your journalism is operating within
Brenda P. Salinas Treating MP3 files like text
Meredith Artley Stronger solidarity among news organizations
Helen Havlak Platforms shine a light on original reporting
Lucas Graves A smarter conversation about how (and why) fact-checking matters
Steve Henn The dawning audio web
Alexandra Borchardt Get out of the office and talk to people
Elizabeth Dunbar Frank talk, and then action
Irving Washington Leadership isn’t something you learn on the job
Jasmine McNealy A call for context
Joshua P. Darr All that campaign cash will make the media’s problems worse
Jonas Kaiser Russian bots are just today’s slacktivists
Jennifer Brandel A love letter from the year 2073
Sonali Prasad Climate change storytelling gets multidimensional
Greg Emerson News apps fall further behind
Meg Marco Everything happens somewhere
Margarita Noriega The platforms try to figure out what to do with single-subject newsrooms
Joni Deutsch Podcasting unsilences the silent
Colleen Shalby Journalists become media literacy teachers
Nushin Rashidian Are platforms a bridge or a lifeline?
John Keefe Journalism gets hacked
Imaeyen Ibanga Let’s take it slow
Geneva Overholser Death to bothsidesism
Raney Aronson-Rath News deserts will proliferate — but so will new solutions
Gordon Crovitz Fighting misinformation requires journalism, not secret algorithms
Jeff Kofman Speed through technology
Bill Grueskin Our ethics codes get an overhaul
Linda Solomon Wood Everyone in your organization, moving toward a common goal
Mike Caulfield Native verification tools for the blue checkmark crowd
Doris Truong The year of radical salary transparency
S. Mitra Kalita The race to 2021
A.J. Bauer A fork in the road for conservative media
Felix Salmon Spotify launches a news channel
Logan Molyneux and Shannon McGregor Think twice before turning to Twitter
Lauren Duca The rise of the journalistic influencer
Masuma Ahuja Slower, quieter, more measured and thoughtful
Kerri Hoffman Opening closed systems
J. Siguru Wahutu Western journalists, learn from your African peers
Emily Withrow The year we kill the news article
Sarah Schmalbach Journalist, quantify thyself
Jeremy Olshan All journalism should be service journalism
Mariana Moura Santos The future of journalism is collaborative
Joanne McNeil A return to blogs (finally? sort of?)
Cory Haik We’re already consuming the future of news — now we have to produce it
AX Mina The Forum we wanted, the forum we got
Rachel Glickhouse Journalists get left behind in the industry’s decline
Sarah Alvarez I’m ready for post-news
Rachel Schallom The value of push alerts goes beyond open rates
Beena Raghavendran The year of the local engagement reporter
Sarah Marshall The year to learn about news moments
Matthew Pressman News consumers divide into haves and have-nots
Catalina Albeanu Rebuilding journalism, together
Christa Scharfenberg It’s time to make journalism a field that supports and respects women
Jake Shapiro Podcasting gets listener relationship management
Juleyka Lantigua A changing industry amps up podcasters’ ambitions
Stefanie Murray Charitable giving goes collaborative
Pablo Boczkowski The day after November 4
Cindy Royal Prepare media students for skills, not job titles
Simon Galperin Journalism becomes more democratic
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The business we want, not the business we had
Don Day Respect the non-paying audience
John Garrett It’s the best time in a century to start a local news organization
Knight Foundation Five generations of journalists, learning from each other
Tom Glaisyer Journalism can emerge newly vibrant and powerful
Joe Amditis Collaborative journalism takes its rightful place at the table
Jeremy Gilbert and Jarrod Dicker A call for collaboration between storytelling and tech
Nico Gendron Make better products if you want to reach Gen Z
Madelyn Sanfilippo and Yafit Lev-Aretz News coverage gets geo-fragmented
Errin Haines Race and gender aren’t a 2020 story — they’re the story
Annie Rudd The expanded ambiguity of the news photograph
Brian Moritz The end of “stick to sports”
Matt DeRienzo Local broadcasters begin to fill the gaps left by newspapers
Peter Bale Lies get further normalized
Rachel Davis Mersey The business of local TV news will enter its downward slide
Ernie Smith The death of the industry fad
Logan Jaffe You don’t need fancy tools to listen
Talia Stroud The work of reconnecting starts November 4
Alana Levinson Brand-backed media gets another look
Jim Brady We’ll complain about other people living in bubbles while ignoring our own
M. Scott Havens First-party data becomes media’s most important currency
Elizabeth Hansen and Jesse Holcomb Local news initiatives run into a capital shortage
Dannagal G. Young Let’s disrupt the logic that’s driving Americans apart
Francesco Zaffarano TikTok without generational prejudice
Seth C. Lewis 20 questions for 2020
Kathleen Searles Pay more attention to attention
Eric Nuzum Podcasting finally creates another mega-hit show
Heather Bryant Some kinds of journalism aren’t worth saving
Victor Pickard We reclaim a public good
Carrie Brown-Smith Engaged journalism: It’s finally happening
Richard Tofel A constraint of the reader-revenue model emerges
Kristen Muller The year we operationalize community engagement
Heidi Tworek The year of positive pushback
Michael W. Wagner Increasingly fractured, but little bit deliberative
Julia B. Chan We 👏 take 👏 breaks 👏
Tanya Cordrey Saying no to more good ideas
Mary Walter-Brown and Tristan Loper Power to the people (on your audience team)
Sarah Stonbely More people start caring about news inequality
Monica Drake A renewed focus on misinformation
Josh Schwartz Publishers move beyond the metered paywall
Monique Judge The year to organize, unionize, and fight
Mario García Think small (screen)
Tamar Charney From broadcast to bespoke
Jakob Moll A slow-moving tech backlash among young people
Tonya Mosley The neutrality vs. objectivity game ends
Sue Robinson Campaign coverage as test bed for engagement experiments
