Community and Democracy in a Rural Virginia News Mirage
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis project examines America’s local news crisis through the lens of one rural community, Culpeper County, Virginia. With a population around 52,000, Culpeper oers a critical window into a citizenry underserved by local journalism. The project culminated in a digital article, rooted in interviews with Culpeper’s citizens, threadbare local news sta, and government ocials. Paired with expert voices in journalism, misinformation and local news economics, it serves as a case study in how a waning local news presence is aecting one county. The eects of local news’ decline have, of course, been well documented on a national level. Less common are reporting projects anchored in the people and communities aected by it, whether they consider it an active predicament or not.
DOI: 10.17615/ypn9-pa35
Author: LeBlanc, Paul
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6944317341
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