Beginning around 2005, community newspapers across the U.S. faced unprecedented financial stresses, which over time forced more than a third to close. While their closures have left communities in vulnerable "news deserts," they aren't random. Instead, the reasons smaller newspapers often close fall into a recognizable pattern. In her piece for "The Conversation," Abby Youran Qin "identifies key drivers − ranging from racial disparity to market forces − that determine which towns lose their papers and which ones beat the odds."

Although local papers exist to serve their communities, they still need profits to keep the doors open. That is why some neighborhoods still have a paper. Qin explains, "Local newspapers survive where affluent subscribers and deep-pocketed advertisers cluster. That means wealthy white suburbs keep their watchdogs, while low-income and diverse communities lose theirs."

When poorer neighborhoods lose their paper and their investigative reporters, residents become more vulnerable to social power abuse. Qin writes, "Poor and racially diverse communities often face the harshest policing and interact more with street-level bureaucrats than wealthier citizens. That makes them more vulnerable to government corruption and misconduct."

Community newspapers often fail to serve their entire audience in equal ways. For instance, if everyone who worked at a local paper was white, would black events and happenings be equally covered? Over time, a pattern of bias in some news organizations caused racially diverse neighborhoods to distrust, dislike and not subscribe to the local paper.

"Diverse neighborhoods get hit twice. First, their local newspapers inadequately represent them," Qin explains. "Then, when people understandably turn away, subscriptions drop, advertisers pull back and the outlets shut down, leaving whole communities without a voice."

The structure of "market-dependent journalism," has also caused community newspapers to close, even when an area's population is growing. "The catch lies in who is moving in: Population growth saves papers only when it comes with wealth," Qin writes. "The news gap experienced by fast-growing communities may persist where local journalism depends primarily on traditional advertising and subscription revenues rather than diversified revenue sources such as grants and philanthropic donations."

Read the full article about the reasons local newspapers survive or close by Heather Close at The Rural Blog.