The Threat to American Democracy That Has Nothing to Do With Trump

Between 2008 and 2017, American newspapers cut 45 percent of their newsrooms staff—and the following years, for many outlets, brought even deeper contractions. From 2004 to 2015, the United States lost more than 1,800 print outlets—some because of corporate mergers and others because of simple closures. Fewer than one in six Americans subscribe to a local newspaper, in either print or digital form.

Over the past two decades, the revenue sources that once made newspapers lucrative enterprises—in particular, the money that flowed in from local and classified advertising—have dried up as sites like Craigslist have proliferated and as advertisers have shifted their dollars to digital platforms.

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