Montana body-slamming is about many things, one key here is the decimation of local news as 90% of new ad $$ goes to Facebook or Google.
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Replying to @zeynep
Local politicians have less scrutiny than ever—despite heroic efforts by some of what remains of local press. Rare national attention.
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Replying to @zeynep
Without robust local press, corruption and impunity become normalized, and then trickles up. We glimpse when national attention goes there.
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Replying to @zeynep
And there is no complex analysis needed here. Local news has been consolidated plus defunded because ad money goes to Facebook & Google.
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Replying to @zeynep
So many remaining local papers/media are owned by a few ideological operators (mostly on the right ala Sinclair) and not much else is left.
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Replying to @zeynep
No trick or complexity to this. Local news needs to be funded in a way that is compatible with operating with an ethos of accountability.
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Replying to @zeynep
You can say a million things about initiatives etc. etc. regaining trust in news etc. but seriously. Local news needs to be funded. Funded.
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Replying to @zeynep
So you have an altercation—with national attention—when a Guardian reporter goes to Montana because of special election.
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Replying to @zeynep
Simple. Local news cannot survive on digital ad money; not enough scale. Without local news, you cannot check local impunity or corruption.
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And with normalization of corruption + vacuum of accountability, misinformation is easier to spread—also easier to monetize on FB & Google.
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Replying to @zeynep
Yes, yes, it's all connected—no need for game theory
. I am an academic and *love* complexity. This is so straightforward that it's painful.2 replies 12 retweets 80 likes -
Replying to @zeynep
Without local news, cannot keep check on what's going wrong. Without accountability, powerful lean towards corruption and impunity.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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