Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Michael Shapiro
1. The Mystery of Caroline County, Virginia (Bowling Green)
2. What’s Vexing Macon, Georgia? (Macon)
3. Red Streets versus Blue Streets in McKeesport, Pennsylvania
(McKeesport)
4. Fighting the Wall Along the Rio Grande (McAllen)
5. Are Democrats an Endangered Species in Caroline County? (Bowling
Green)
6. Yes, Dorothy, We Are Way Outside the Beltway (Macon)
7. Fear and Loathing in the Time of Coronavirus (McKeesport)
8. In the Rio Grande Valley, a Border Closes, and Signs of a Wall
Appear as the Pandemic Spreads (McAllen)
9. The Ghost of a Weekly Covers the Pandemic (Bowling Green)
10. Standing on Sinking Sand, Living in Limbo (Macon)
11. Transparency in a Time of Pandemic (McKeesport)
12. COVID-19 Has Changed How We Report Stories on the Border
(McAllen)
13. How the Pandemic Is Playing in Rural Virginia (Bowling
Green)
14. A Good Idea at the Time (Macon)
15. In Towns Like McKeesport, the Future Was Already Precarious.
Then Came Coronavirus. (McKeesport)
16. Saving Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge Extends Beyond Political
Boundaries (McAllen)
17. At the Edge of a Pandemic, Its Direction Unknown (Bowling
Green)
18. Dirty Politics in the Digital Age (Macon)
19. How Facebook Has Undermined Communal Conversation in McKeesport
(McKeesport)
20. South Texas Was Reopening. Now COVID-19 Is Roaring Back.
(McAllen)
21. Racism, Confederate Statues, and the View from Frog Level,
Virginia (Bowling Green)
22. Macon–Bibb County Votes While a Nation Protests (Macon)
23. “McAllen and South Texas Need Help Now” (McAllen)
24. When a Newspaper Dies, What Fills the Void? (Bowling Green)
25. To School or Not to School—a Burning Question (Macon)
26. What Will “Normal” Mean After COVID-19? (McKeesport)
27. South Texas Is a Bad Algorithm Right Now (McAllen)
28. In Rural Virginia, a Tale of Two Congressional Districts
(Bowling Green)
29. A Local Election, School Reopenings, and the Pandemic
(Macon)
30. Will Western Pennsylvania Become a String of Ghost Towns?
(McKeesport)
31. Where Are the Campaign Signs and the Politiqueras?
(McAllen)
32. A Confederate Soldier Moves On (Bowling Green)
33. Macon–Bibb County and the Unrelenting Shock of COVID-19
(Macon)
34. Will the Sons of Steelworkers See Trump’s COVID-19 Behavior as
Strong or Reckless? (McKeesport)
35. Counting on Next Year Being Much Better (McAllen)
36. Election Day Approaches
Postscript: January 20, 2021
Index
Greg Glassner has more than forty years of experience in the
newspaper business, the majority of it as editor of community
weeklies in Virginia, including the Herald-Progress in Ashland. He
is the author of five books, including biographies of Attorney
General William Wirt and Governor William “Extra Billy” Smith of
Virginia.
Charles Richardson is a McClatchy Journalism Fellow at Duke
University and a fellow at the Knight Center for Specialized
Journalism at the University of Maryland. He has worked in
newspapers, radio, and television and was the editorial page editor
at the Macon Telegraph for twenty-four years.
Sandra Sanchez has been a journalist for the past thirty years,
including many years covering the Southwest border and immigration
for USA Today. She also worked at the Washington Post; was the
opinion editor for The Monitor in McAllen, Texas; and is currently
a correspondent for Nexstar Media Group’s BorderReport.com.
Jason Togyer is the founder of Tube City Online, a nonprofit news
website and internet radio station. He previously worked as a
reporter for the Washington, Pennsylvania, Observer-Reporter,
McKeesport Daily News, and Greensburg and Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review.
American Deadline offers a fresh and unique chronicle of a year
we’ll never forget—2020—through the lens of four communities where
newspapers have weakened or vanished. These dispatches from the
front lines of democracy—communities in Georgia, Pennsylvania,
Texas and Virginia—remind us of what's lost when Americans have
only national (and increasingly partisan) news sources. American
Deadline reminds us that local news is never more needed than in a
crisis like a pandemic. We need local news not just to hold local
officials accountable but to provide a more nuanced, textured view
of politics from the ground up. Communities across America have
been starved of reliable local news. This book vividly illustrates
the dire consequences for our democracy.
*Sewell Chan, editor in chief of The Texas Tribune*
For those of us trying to bolster local news in the U.S., American
Deadline offers more compelling evidence for why this coverage
matters. In a series of astute, nuanced dispatches, four veteran
journalists describe the same year in the life of their disparate
communities after their local newsroom has withered or died.
Critical elections with no candidate coverage. Rampant Covid
misinformation. No government watchdogs. This is front-line
reporting that’s a must read.
*Kim Kleman, executive director, Report for America*
Well-written and comprehensive, American Deadline is a fascinating
look at how the tensions that are tearing us apart at the national
level also affect community life.
*Dan Kennedy, author of The Return of the Moguls: How Jeff Bezos
and John Henry Are Remaking Newspapers for the Twenty-First
Century*
[A] unique and often heart-wrenching collaboration . . . the
reporting is consistently fine-grained, evocative, and insightful.
It’s a fitting testament to the value of local journalism.
*Publishers Weekly*
[This book] serves as a valuable resource for those unfamiliar with
the lived experiences within news deserts or areas impacted by the
decline of local news, while also complementing the growing body of
academic work in the space. Above all, the authors compellingly
demonstrate that the loss of local news profoundly affects
readers.
*Journalism*
Those who believe that introspection is the path to progress — as I
do — will be captivated by this book.
*Macon Telegraph*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
