As a conservative, I’m not quick to invoke the term “market failure” as a justification for government intervention. But that’s exactly what the decline of local journalism requires. Local newspapers, the first line of democratic accountability for local government, are in free fall. The Youngstown Vindicator, the latest victim (a daily serving a population of 550,000), just announced that it is closing, after 150 years of continuous operation in the Mahoning Valley of Ohio. As the Pew Research Center recen … (read more)
