Shannon Mattern: "In the past two decades, nearly a third of the newspapers in the United States have folded, and most of the rest have lost subscribers and influence. More than 3.5 million people live in counties that do not have a single professional news outlet. Researchers have identified many causes (shifts in advertising, corporate consolidation, strangulation by hedge funds like Alden Global Capital) and effects (declining civic engagement and public trust). And as the industry contracts, the void is filled by a political cult that seeks to replace truth with spectacle and propaganda. In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump won 91 percent of those counties."