Hey Smarties, it's Deep Dive Day and today we're going to get smart about news deserts.

Those are the kinds of places that lack a local news ecosystem and in an election year

having reliable news coverage you can actually trust is especially important.

So recently, Marketplace's David Broncaccio and the team over at the Morning Report went on a six day reporting trip as part of their Democracy in the Desert

series.

They were grounding themselves in these communities and talking to folks who were trying to find

solutions and fill gaps in news coverage because as many of you know the news business is going through some rough times.

This kind of reporting takes resources. Every donation to Marketplace helps sustain in-depth

journalists just like what you're about to hear. Journalism that makes a difference.

So please give what you can today at Marketplace.org slash Give Smart. Please give smart.

today at marketplace.org

give smart. Okay, now on to the show.

They say all politics is local, so where's the local news coverage this election year?

Welcome to a marketplace morning report special recalling Democracy in the Desert.

I'm Dave Vronkachio. I've been traveling to what are called

news deserts in super Tuesday states to hear about the business models that are

failing or informing voters as they make their choices.

We begin our democracy in the desert coverage in Valverdi County, Texas,

where Mexico is just across the river.

Breakfast in one of the two hundred and four counties in America researchers have labeled

a news desert.

Here at Skillets, in the county seat of Del Rio, there are biscuits smothered in

...