A01=Nick Mathews
abernathy penny
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alden global capital
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audience engagement
audience relationship
audience trust
Author_Nick Mathews
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community identity
community journalism
community loss
community news
consolidation media
corporate ownership
corporation public broadcasting
covid pandemic
craigslist
critical information needs
democracy media
democratic society
digital technology
engaged journalism
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eq_business-finance-law
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eq_nobargain
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eq_society-politics
facebook
fake news
fishbowl effect
forthcoming
gannett
google
greedy institutions
hedge funds
hurricane camille
information inequality
informational labor
informational loss
journalism practice
journalism research
journalist audience relationship
journalistic ethics
journalistic identity
lakeway publishers
lee enterprises
local journalism
local news
local newspapers
media consolidation
media economics
media trust
misinformation
nelson county
nelson county times
new york times
news audiences
news deserts
news ecology
news industry
news literacy
newspaper closures
newspaper consolidation
newspaper ownership
npr
ownership consolidation
ownership structures
print imprint
print journalism
private equity
psychological ownership
public broadcasting
public media
pulitzer prize
rural america
rural communities
rural consciousness
rural identity
rural journalists
rural media
rural news
rural penalty
rural sociology
small wins journalism
social identity theory
Product details
- ISBN 9780252059810
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 15 Sep 2026
- Publisher: University of Illinois Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The devastation of local news organizations has left rural areas of the US marooned in information deserts. Nick Mathews offers a boots-on-the-ground examination of the human toll of local news's erosion by the winds of de-localization and corporate indifference.
It's no secret that ownership transfers, corporate mergers, and hedge-fund takeovers have relentlessly consolidated and closed local news organizations. Mathews exposes the impact of that process on journalism, journalists, and news consumers hungry for outlets that tell their stories. A fundamental breakdown within journalism itself, the abandonment of community news has left disgruntled and disconnected locals to piece together news and information themselves. Mathews draws on the personal experiences of news gatherers and consumers to illuminate why local news cannot be scaled. Mass-produced content inevitably severs ties to communities while distant ownership is indifferent to local concerns.
Nuanced and sympathetic, Deserted provides a vivid portrait of the people and places forsaken by journalism's corporate owners.
It's no secret that ownership transfers, corporate mergers, and hedge-fund takeovers have relentlessly consolidated and closed local news organizations. Mathews exposes the impact of that process on journalism, journalists, and news consumers hungry for outlets that tell their stories. A fundamental breakdown within journalism itself, the abandonment of community news has left disgruntled and disconnected locals to piece together news and information themselves. Mathews draws on the personal experiences of news gatherers and consumers to illuminate why local news cannot be scaled. Mass-produced content inevitably severs ties to communities while distant ownership is indifferent to local concerns.
Nuanced and sympathetic, Deserted provides a vivid portrait of the people and places forsaken by journalism's corporate owners.
Nick Mathews is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Missouri. He is the co-author of Reviving Rural News: Transforming the Business Model of Community Journalism in the US andBeyond.
