Last month’s launch of Press Forward, a national coalition of nonprofits that will pump $500 million into revitalizing local news outlets across the country, may have special significance for those who live in the area served by the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Like those supporting the Press Forward initiative, many residents of Central Washington likewise have shown their commitment to local news. In the three years since the creation of the Yakima Free Press Campaign, area residents have contributed to boost local coverage by the Herald-Republic, El Sol de Yakima and Radio KDNA.
In fact, Charles Horton, a director of The Seattle Times-owned Yakima Herald-Republic, said area donors, along with gifts from the Microsoft Corp. and others, have led the Yakima Free Press Campaign to collect more than $575,000.
Why does that matter?
The League of Women Voters of Washington’s recent study, “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy,” established that Washington has lost one-fifth of its newspapers over the past 15 years. We’ve also lost two-thirds of our newspaper staffs.
Most important are the links the study reports between the decline and serious impacts on the health and well-being of our communities. Those include reduced voter participation, fewer candidates seeking local office, greater political polarization, higher government costs, less community engagement by residents and greater challenges for those seeking to improve public health.
At Washington State University in Pullman, Edward R. Murrow school professor Benjamin Shors provided a dire description of what the decline has created: “It’s not a journalism problem. It’s a democracy problem.”
The Washington situation sadly mirrors a crisis facing all of the United States: According to national research, we’ve lost one-fourth of our newspapers. Moreover, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, the country is on track to lose one-third of its newspapers by 2025 if the trend continues.
In the Yakima area, Horton said fundraising allowed the Herald-Republic and El Sol de Yakima to maintain their staffing levels throughout the pandemic, even adding two reporters at the larger paper. That’s despite the major challenge of raising money in an agricultural community hard hit by a struggling economy.
As the campaign pursues continued support, Horton said next steps include seeking grant money from various sources, including national nonprofits, to expand digital access to the Herald-Republic to low-income residents, who make up a sizable portion of the Yakima community. Additional goals include continuing the paper’s award-winning coverage of missing and murdered indigenous people and new investigative reporting on environmental issues.
Meanwhile, the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, which organized and leads the Yakima Free Press Campaign, is also working to engage more local news readers by way of a variety of additional platforms, said Sharon Miracle, foundation chief executive officer.
“The local news crisis is daunting,” said Miracle. “But we are doing our utmost to ensure we are well position to maintain local journalism.”
Miracle said that commitment is behind the recent decision by community foundation officials to establish the Central Washington Community Newsroom.
