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