About: Penny Abernathy

Recent Posts by Penny Abernathy

The Need for More Robust Local News Coverage: Questions with Clara Hendrickson

[caption id="attachment_5039" align="alignright" width="300"] Clara Hendrickson[/caption] Alarmed by the shuttering of hundreds of local newspapers in the U.S.  as well as massive reporter layoffs in recent years, the Brookings Institution’s Clara Hendrickson undertook a study aimed at understanding what was at stake for American democracy and what could be done to reverse the trend. “Local…
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Tracking the Changing Local News Landscape: Questions with Damian Radcliffe

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [caption id="attachment_5010" align="alignright" width="274"] Damian Radcliffe[/caption] Change is constant and often frenetic, especially when considering the local news landscape in the U.S. and abroad. As professor of the practice at the University of Oregon, Damian Radcliffe is a 2018-19 Faculty Fellow at the Agora Journalism Center at the School of Journalism and Communication, which…
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Statement on Oklahoma News Deserts

Local newspapers have historically been the prime source of credible and comprehensive news about important issues and events that affect the quality of lives of residents in a community. That’s why our research at UNC seeks to identify communities located in emerging “news deserts,” and those at risk of becoming news deserts, because their local “newspapers”…
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Who should pay for local public affairs journalism? Questions with Christopher Ali

[caption id="attachment_1041" align="alignright" width="225"] Christopher Ali, Assistant Professor, University of Virginia[/caption] What exactly is local news and, more broadly, local media? How should we regulate it and how much do we value it? Is it important enough, for instance, for us as taxpayers to subsidize local news gathering organizations – or even more radically, should…
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Comparing media ownership models, and the future of “all-digital” news models: Questions with Merja Myllylahti

[caption id="attachment_965" align="alignright" width="200"] Merja Myllylahti, Auckland University of Technology[/caption] Since 2011, Merja Myllylahti, a former financial journalist, has been tracking media ownership patterns in New Zealand. During that time, ownership has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few barons. What are the implications of this for her country? Are there cautionary lessons…
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What Happens to Political Participation in Communities When Metro Papers Pull Back? Questions with Sarah Cavanah

[caption id="attachment_965" align="alignright" width="300"] Sarah Cavanah, Assistant Professor at University of North Dakota[/caption] Newspapers have historically served a critical role in our democracy, identifying the “hot button” issues that are debated and voted on in communities large and small.   Dr. Sarah Cavanah, an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota, is focused on researching…
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Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism, Questions with James Hamilton

[caption id="attachment_852" align="alignright" width="300"] James T. Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication and Director of the Journalism Program at Stanford University[/caption] What is the value to society of investigative journalism? In his new book, Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism (Harvard, 2016), author James T. (Jay) Hamilton calculates the long-term economic consequence to society when lives…
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