We begin by reviewing the literature on news gaps, identifying both their structural drivers and social consequences. Given the structural nature of both the journalism crisis and the city’s historic inequalities, news gaps may persist, which may call for more significant policy interventions and experimentations with new models of media ownership and governance.Īccordingly, this study builds a multi-dimensional framework for studying the complex structures of local media systems and uses it to assess Philadelphia’s news media landscape with a particular focus on identifying potential news gaps, especially in the city’s most marginalized communities. Philadelphia also has significant levels of socioeconomic and racial inequality ( Shields & Siddique, 2020), raising the question of whether the city’s news outlets equitably serve its most marginalized communities. While Philadelphia appears to have a thriving news market and has experimented with new funding models to sustain news provision ( Rieder, 2017 Schaffer, 2010 Wolfson & Funke, 2014), it remains unclear to what degree these recent interventions ensure that the information needs of all residents are equitably met. (2012) refer to as “critical information needs.” From information about public emergencies to coverage of local politics, journalism that fulfills these needs is essential to community cohesion, self-determination and, more broadly, to a functioning democracy. Gaps in news provision can manifest as absent or inadequate news about issues vital to a community’s interests, which Friedland et al. Urban media systems such as Philadelphia, home to one of the largest designated media markets in the United States, also have been affected by declining news resources, which can exacerbate inequalities in news provision ( Rafsky, 2020). Local media systems have become critical sites of study as news outlets close and communities become “news deserts” that lack trusted sources of local information ( Abernathy, 2016 Ardia et al., 2020 Ferrier et al., 2016 Pickard, 2020). Policy interventions such as public funding and subsidies can enhance the capacity for Philadelphia news organizations to meet the critical information needs of marginalized communities. Findings indicate that multiple dimensions of Philadelphia’s news media system-audience size and socioeconomics, staffing levels, forms of ownership, and platform effects-work together to underserve communities with lower levels of income and education and that this structural gap generates a measurable gap in the provision of news content meeting the critical information needs of these communities. We gather data on income, education, and age of audiences and coverage areas for 38 news outlets in Philadelphia and conduct a content analysis to gauge how these outlets meet critical information needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study builds a multi-dimensional framework for assessing local media systems to identify potential gaps in news provision, especially among socioeconomically marginalized communities.
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