The presidential election is on everyone's mind, but this year there are also tens of thousands of elections for city and county offices across the country. Yet few Americans know much about them, in part because of a crisis in the local news business. In the last two decades, thousands of local newspapers have closed, and virtually every remaining paper has slashed its reporting staff. As a result, Americans have become less knowledgeable about their local governments and less likely to turn out to vote in local elections.

Hayes’ talk will draw on two decades of data to show how the decline of local news in the United States is threatening the foundations of local democracy. 

Hayes is a professor of political science at George Washington University. A former journalist, his research focuses on the media, public opinion and elections. He is the author of three books published by Cambridge University Press. The most recent, “News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement” (2021), was awarded the Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

Moderated by Clinton Jenkins, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science at Lenoir-Rhyne.