| Description |
After 15 years of research on the Czech local newspapers, which, especially in recent years, has become a mapping of a space that is turning into a news desert (LM4D, 2023; Napoli et al., 2018; and others), it is highest time to speak out about the lessons that other local newsrooms can learn from this development; and also about the issues that we must not overlook in local media research. In my presentation, I would like to highlight two problems– (1) the unrealistic expectations of researchers that does not translate to/reflect the actual situation in local newsrooms; and (2) the invisibility of the real problems that small newsrooms deal with on a daily basis. On top of shedding light on existing problems in both the research and the praxis, I offer (3) ten points of inspiration for success/survival based on findings from research in local newspaper newsrooms. All of this is supported by surveys with representatives of all local newsrooms in 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024; and the ethnographic study, in-depth interviews, and participant observations of local newspapers in the Czech Republic during 2019/2020 and in 2024. To elaborate on the three aims of my presentation: (1) Regarding our axiomatic expectations, it is for example the assumption of a strong relationship between the local audience and the local media/journalists; community building potential of local media; or the inevitability of the digital transition of local print media. In the Czech reality, where local news is still traditionally carried mostly by newspapers depending on the traditional business model, the situation is completely opposite: local audiences underestimate local journalists and do not reflect the relevance of local media (Waschková Císařová, 2023c); which implies a limited community building potential of local newspapers (Waschková Císařová, 2023c); or the muted digital transition and the perception of an online outlet as competition to the print edition (Waschková Císařová, 2023a). (2) Real problems of local newspapers are mostly invisible, unimportant, and marginal from a national or international perspective: disintegration of the local publishing infrastructure (ancillary organisations) inevitable for local newspapers’ survival (Waschková Císařová, 2023b); problems of the local entrepreneurship, journalist-entrepreneurs and their succession (Waschková Císařová, 2022); precarious working conditions, burn-out and related growing passivity (Waschková Císařová, 2023a; 2021) and unwillingness to cooperate (Waschková Císařová, 2023b). (3) The points of inspiration are based on the above mentioned five broad topics, but also include specific implications and examples from particular cases/newsrooms: the local journalist as a long-term active member of the local community; the longevity and tradition of building relationships in the locality, credibility and cooperation; adherence to professional standards on a local level; the economy as a key part of survival, but while maintaining the wall between the business and editorial parts of the local media; emotions as an integral part of the functioning of (mediated) communication in the locality. At the same time, results from other research show (cf. Gulyas et al., 2023) that my conclusions and the proposed guideline are transnationally applicable.
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