Sam Allard – Reporter for Axios Cleveland

Dear Colleagues:

This week’s “Friday Lunch” topic is the local version of both a local and national story.

In an article last year in the Columbia Journalism Review, Steve Waldman reported that, “Our local-news situation is even worse than you think,” noting that from 2004 through 2020 newspaper newsroom employees dropped 57%, reporters per 100,000 population dropped 62%, and reporters per $100 million in state and local government spending dropped 67%.

When I moved to Cleveland in 2000 I could get the Plain Dealer delivered every day, and it was a much more substantial paper than the one in the city I left (New Orleans). Over time the PD has become a lot thinner and cut home delivery first to four and then to three days a week. It cut reporters, some of whom now work for CWRU. This was the northeast Ohio face of “the collapse of local reporting.” Lauren Rich Fine was kind enough to explain the basic economics of the trend, such as the collapse of classified newspaper advertising, to us way back in 2009.

Knowing why this was happening, however, did not help me get state and local news. Occasionally I would see a really interesting headline in the Cleveland Scene about something I did not remember reading about in the PD. Usually the article was by Sam Allard. So I was struck when I learned earlier this year that Mr. Allard was helping to start Axios Cleveland, a daily (weekdays) newsletter that might fill some of the gap in local and state coverage, and I wanted to learn more about it.

Axios Cleveland is not the only attempt to fill the gap. Another interesting effort is “The Land.” But the Axios effort seems particularly important because it is part of a nationally prominent news organization that both clearly recognizes the difficulty of accomplishing much, but declares an “editorial theory of the case.” In their words:

• “We want to bring smart, modern, trustworthy, local news to every community in America.

• “This sounds insanely ambitious (or just insane). But you don’t solve gigantic societal and business problems by thinking small…

• “Every city and town is reinventing itself (or being reinvented reluctantly), by technology and the explosion of work-from-anywhere possibilities.

“Think of the change unfolding in your backyard – where and how you work, where you live, how you communicate, travel, study, eat, work out, stay informed. Axios Local unleashes local reporters to narrate the change and cover the economic, social and political implications. Each city is covered by locals, for locals.”

As of November 11, Cleveland was one of thirty cities with Axios Local operations.

Whether digital sites can at least partially replace some of the lost print media is very much an open question. But there is pretty good research suggesting that the decline not only reduces citizen input into and oversight of local government, but influences other aspects of our politics. For example, polarization is encouraged by the loss of focus on the more concrete aspects of relationships and living on a local scale.

So what is Axios Cleveland doing, and how is it going? Please join us to learn about a public affairs trend that could possibly be encouraging.

In-Person and Virtual Attendance

In order to make it easy for people to protect themselves and still participate, the meetings can be attended on Zoom. Participants can register for each meeting in the same way they did for the past two years. The link is posted below.

The discussion begins at 12:30 p.m., but the room should be open no later than Noon. We try to have beverages and refreshments set up soon after that. Participants should be able to sign on to Zoom also by Noon. But please remember not much will be happening online until the talk begins at 12:30 pm. Please also be prepared to show identification when entering Kelvin Smith Library.

Zoom participants should speak up when asked for questions or comments, or submit thoughts through Zoom’s chat function. Please keep yourself muted until you are choosing to speak.

Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. When you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. If you do not get the newsletter, you should also be able to get the information each Monday by checking http://fridaylunch.case.edu Then if you choose you can use the contact form on that website to request the registration link.

This week’s Zoom link for registration is:

https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAtdu-hrzstHt1nxXiblqb8nS-qpP3LxAzW

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Please also e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about arrangements or any suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program to share information about the discussions.

Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,

Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Sam Allard is a reporter for Axios Cleveland. Born and raised on Cleveland’s near west side, he earned his B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University and an MFA from Cleveland State University. Before helping to found Axios Cleveland, Sam spent ten years as a staff writer at the alternative weekly, Cleveland Scene, after serving as an Investigative Reporting Fellow with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in Sarajevo. He has taught fiction and nonfiction writing intermittently at Cleveland State.

* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

November 24: Thanksgiving Break

December 1: Civil-Military Relations in Egypt. With Dina Rashed, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the College for Academic Affairs, University of Chicago.

December 8: To Be Determined.