Government, State and Local, Coverage of

Local Media and the Democratic Process

State and local governments provide greater and more direct interaction with constituents than is the case with national politics. Politicians on the local or state level are more closely aligned with community issues, requiring greater public interaction. However, direct politician-to-citizen communication remains a challenge given constraints of time, cost, and sometimes distance. Local media are instrumental in this interchange because they serve as the primary mode of communication among officials, business, citizen action groups, and the general public. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 40 percent of people involved in local print media maintain that journalism does very well as a public service for providing information to the public, as compared to only 28 percent of people involved in national print media.

Given this role, local media can and often do help foster democratic processes. By covering local and state governments (including such vital functions as education, transportation, and health), media inform citizens of what these governments are doing. With such coverage, media serve as “watchdogs” on government, increasing transparency through occasional use of investigative journalism and by holding officials accountable for their actions. This watchdog role is thought to be more effective in local than in national media [Page 680]coverage: approximately 39 percent of people from local print media that responded to the Pew survey stated that journalism does very well as a political watchdog, as opposed to 31 percent of respondents from national print media. At the same time, media channel citizen wants and needs to government. For example, letters to the editor, e-mail messages to stations, and blogs help to make clear where some members of the public stand on controversial concerns.

Local and state governments are primarily concerned with public issues such as health and safety, welfare, transportation, education, and agriculture. Thus, media coverage of state and local government fluctuates with local elections, whether the state legislature is in session, or whether a function of the government is under scrutiny. Usually based on legislative action (or threatened action), hot-button issues like political scandals, gun control, how schools should (or should not) teach evolution, consolidating public schools, or government cutbacks due to budget shortfalls will feature prominently in coverage of state and local affairs.

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