Local Journalism when the Journalists Leave Town: Probing the news gap that hyperlocal media are supposed to fill

Abstract

Editorial offices are being shut down in small municipalities, raising the question of whether hyperlocal media can fill the gap left by legacy media. However, very little is known about the shape of this gap and thus to what extent it can be filled by hyperlocal media. To inform this line of research, this study asks: what happens to the news coverage of a municipality when there is no permanent presence of journalists? A quantitative content analysis (N = 606), measuring news topics, framing, style, original reporting and sourcing practices, was performed regarding the news coverage of 12 Swedish municipalities - six with editorial offices of a legacy media organisation and six without. The results indicate that municipalities receive less original coverage, community news receives less attention and institutional actors are quoted more often when there is no permanent presence of journalists. Implications for communities and hyperlocal media are discussed.