Editor’s note

The Leader presents the essays of the winners of the League of Women Voters-Jefferson County Essay Contest. Students were asked to write on the topic, “What would your community be like without the news?”

The topic was inspired by a recent League of Women Voters-Washington Consensus Study, “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy.” Noting that between 2005 and 2020, more than one-quarter of the nation’s newspapers closed, leaving 1,800 communities with no local newspapers, the question prompted the students to consider what their lives would be without the news media that serves Jefferson County.

No clue who won last night’s high school football game, not sure what to wear today because there is no weather forecast, and you don’t know who won last week’s presidential election. The news shapes our personal values, increases the depth and variety of our communication, and fuels our economy. Without news, our community would be clueless. 

News can influence our personal values and our decision-making. People tend to base their beliefs on what they hear and want to believe. As upi.com reports, “People lend greater credence to sources of information that tell them what they want to hear…”

As we become the people we desire to be, we develop our personal image to reveal how we will be perceived by others. For example, if you constantly listen to CNN then your personal values may lean liberal. However, if you prefer FOX News, you are probably conservative. 

News shapes personal and community decision-making. An article from bbc.com claims “The latest research suggests that the news can shape us in surprising ways.”

My family recently, unfortunately, decided to forgo a vacation to Mexico due to reports of drug cartels kidnapping Americans. 

Isn’t it nice when you are sitting with someone and can have a wonderful conversation? I think so, too. But we’re taking these conversations for granted because, without the constant flow of information, these conversations would not exist. I cannot tell you the number of times I was sitting at the dinner table and about 90 percent of the conversation was based on recent newscasts. My grandma brought up the other day that TikTok is going to be banned due to its connections with China. Yet, I was just listening to an interview from npr.org stating, “Tik Tok CEO says company is not an agent of China or any other country.”

Grandma got her information from The New York Times article which reported “In recent months, lawmakers in the United States, Europe, and Canada have escalated efforts to restrict access to TikTok.”

If the news was non-existent there would be no conversation, no debates, and shorter dinners.  

As the hours and the minutes pass through your day, a variety of news is getting bombarded into your ears whether you realize it or not. This news may be coming through the radio, television, the local newspaper, and social media. Think of all the money that goes into these industries. These industries provide many jobs for people. In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said “There are 47,100 jobs in the U.S. news industry.” Some of these jobs include reporter, editor, cameraman, podcaster, makeup artist, and sound quality artist, just to mention a few. Without the news industry, there would be a blank spot in the economy. 

This world and community would be entirely different without news; it plays a huge part in our daily lives and gives us knowledge. The world would be blank without news. 

As Edward R. Murrow famously said “Good night and good luck.”