
The panelists will discuss how the local news crisis is playing out in Clark County and what it means for the future of local news in Southwest Washington
VANCOUVER – Join area media representatives for a community forum on Thu., Nov. 16, as they respond to the question: “Does Local News Even Matter?”
Also participating will be Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, University of Oregon Agora Journalism Center’s Regina G. Lawrence and Len Reed, formerly an editor at The Oregonian, and now a faculty member at Washington State University-Vancouver.
The panelists will discuss how the local news crisis is playing out in Clark County and what it means for the future of local news in Southwest Washington. Statewide, a million subscribers to local newspapers have been lost while papers have cut two-thirds of their news staffs and 20 papers have closed altogether.
The free event begins at 7 p.m. and will be in the Columbia Room of the Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St., Vancouver. Seating is limited and registration is required. https://fvrl.librarymarket.com/does-local-news-even-matter-community-forum.
For those needing closed-caption viewing or who are unable to attend in person, Clark/Vancouver Television – CVTV.org — will air the event live as well as make it available as a recording. It also will be streamed live on the League of Women Voters of Clark County Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LWVClarkCounty.
The League of Women Voters of Washington recently completed an extensive study of local newspapers in the Evergreen state titled “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy.” A free PDF of the study is available here. It is also available as a softback at cost for $9.52 on Amazon and as an electronic book for $1.99. Details about the League’s study are available at lwvwa.org/local-news.
Information provided by League of Women Voters of Clark County.
Also read:
- POLL: Did the Clark County Council make the right decision by rejecting the auditor authority proposal?The 3-2 council vote rejected giving the auditor’s office power to write financial impact statements for ballot measures.
- Low sockeye salmon returns lead to fishery changes in the Columbia RiverWDFW projects sockeye returns to Bonneville Dam at less than half the pre-season forecast of 275,000 fish.
- WA employers added jobs in May, but unemployment rate stayed stuck at 5.2%Washington added 10,600 jobs in May — its best month this year — yet unemployment held at 5.2%, up from 4.5% a year ago.
- Opinion: Hospital price transparency is good, but its impact will be limitedWashington still shields hospitals from competition through certificate-of-need laws other states have repealed.
- Evergreen Public Schools and Teachers Union agree to a five-year contractEvergreen Public Schools reached a five-year deal with its teachers union, covering 22,000 students across 38 Vancouver schools.
- Vancouver amends municipal code, banning pedestrians from staying on traffic islands, mediansVancouver’s new ordinance targets people who remain on medians, not those crossing legally at crosswalks.
- Tri-County SAR Teams conduct joint training exercise to enhance emergency
response readinessSix Southwest Washington SAR teams trained together in a simulated aircraft crash requiring day and nighttime rescue operations.







