So we're in a pledge period. You, our listeners, are our biggest and most reliable source of funding, and we never forget that. We count on you in good times and bad, and we're always grateful. Now, I'm guessing, it's a bad time for all of us. But as far as I know, we're not going anywhere. So if you can't contribute, don't. But if you

can, don't hold back. Go to onemedia.org to donate or text OTM to 701.1. COVID-19 is a global

pandemic and a local story.

But after years of newspaper closures and layoffs,

vast swaths of this country have no local news to speak of.

And the press is shuttered to a halt this morning at Missoula's weekly independent newspaper.

This week, the publisher of the Herald wrote a letter to readers saying,

Unprecedented challenges are forced to be. Marginalized communities that need that kind of everyday impact. This week, the publisher of the Herald wrote a letter to readers saying unprecedented challenges

are forced to...

Marginalized communities that need that kind of everyday information, they've lost that vital

link to our society and to our democracy.

God did not give newspapers and magazines the revenue that they think Google and Facebook

took from them.

If the Starbucks had given away coffees for free

and then started wanting to charge $5, people would have gone nuts.

Our solution is really basic.

Just be there, tell their stories, and we find that that is working.

The death and perhaps new life of local news coming up after this.

From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Bob Garfield. And I'm Brooke Gladstone. We were having trouble with the lead

for this episode, which is devoted to the state of local news, especially newspapers. We emphatically

did not want to start any sentence with in a time when, or end one with now more than ever. But here we are in a time when, or end one with, now more than ever.

But here we are in a time when, now more than ever.

...