Connection between local news, political engagement to be discussed Oct. 13

Authors of the book News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement will speak Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Ripon College. The free talk by Jennifer Lawless and Danny Hayes will be presented by the Center for Politics and the People. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. Central Time via a Zoom webinar. Registration for the webinar can be made at ripon.edu/local.

Amazon said of the book: “… this study shows that the demise of local journalism has played a key role in the decline of civic engagement. As struggling newspapers have slashed staff, they have dramatically cut their coverage of mayors, city halls, school boards, county commissions, and virtually every aspect of local government. In turn, fewer Americans now know who their local elected officials are, and turnout in local elections has plummeted.”

Lawless is the Commonwealth Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics. She is the author or co-author of six books, including Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era (with Danny Hayes) and It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office (with Richard L. Fox).

Her research, which has been supported by the National Science Foundation, appears in numerous academic journals and is regularly cited in the popular press. She is an associate editor of the American Journal of Politics Science and is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Hayes is professor of political science at George Washington University. His research focuses on the media, public opinion and elections in American politics. In addition to Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era, written with Lawless, he has had numerous peer-reviewed papers published, as well as Influence from Abroad: Foreign Voices, the Media, and U.S. Public Opinion. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and appears in several academic journals.

He also has served as an editor and contributor for The Monkey Cage, a politics and political science blog at The Washington Post.

Posted October 6, 2021 in Political Publications, Special Event.

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