Across the country, local newspapers are closing down. This trend has prompted researchers to identify a growing number of news deserts, or communities that have little access to essential local information. A declining local press harms democracy: According to the American Journalism Project, it increases polarization, reduces voter turnout and decreases accountability for local leaders.
Yet, lost in these conversations is an analysis of whom the remaining local papers actually serve. With reporting often published in English, many of those papers are inaccessible to recent immigrants and communities that speak English as a second language. These people live in what Emma Murphy, editorial intern at the progressive magazine American Prospect, calls “linguistic news deserts,” or places where the existence of a local paper does not guarantee in-language coverage of local events.
Where do these communities turn for news instead?
