News Deserts: A Barrier to Civic Engagement

A 2020 study from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media found that since 2004 over one-quarter of U.S. newspapers have disappeared. This reduction has left many people, especially those in poor rural areas, living in news deserts, where access to professionally vetted information is limited, if not completely absent. The voids left by traditional news sources don't remain empty, however. Instead of information vacuums, news deserts are flooded with mis-, dis-, and mal-information--all of which make true civic engagement impossible. Civic engagement depends on an informed citizenry whose decisions are based on facts. News deserts are more than just barriers to those facts; they stand between communities and the information that makes healthy civic engagement possible. The answer to where communities are getting information in the absence of traditional news sources is no mystery: social media has emerged as a primary source for content, including news. While it's tempting to advise learners (both young and old) to stay away from social media as a source of information, this approach can have negative consequences as well. This article gives ideas for getting started with teaching information evaluation of social media.