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