What News Readers Want: NJ Study Examines Underserved Communities

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Service journalism. Social media outreach. More “feel-good, solutions-oriented” local news. Content in different languages. These are some of the things that underserved news readers in New Jersey are craving, a report says.

The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University recently released a pair of studies that take a look at news readership in the Garden State.

The first report, dubbed “Information Needs Assessments In Three New Jersey Communities,” was funded by a Google News Initiative North American challenge grant. Read it here.

Researchers worked in three municipalities – Paterson, Trenton and Blairstown – in an attempt to help three hyperlocal news outlet startups understand the information that their communities are searching for. Their methodology included online surveys to community members and focus groups.

Each community faces its own particular challenges when it comes local news coverage, researchers said:

• Paterson, which has a Hispanic population of 61 percent and a “sizable” Arabic community, is one of the state’s largest cities. It has a handful of local news outlets, but the bulk of the content is crime coverage and “re-purposed press releases from local businesses.”
• In Trenton, the state’s capital, nearly half of the population identifies as Black/African American, and there is a “sizable” Hispanic and Latinx population, as well. But the city’s media market – which used to be a “relatively thriving ecosystem” – is now home to papers that have had their staffs and budgets cut repeatedly over the years.
• In Blairstown, a small rural town near the Pennsylvania border, and the surrounding communities of Frelinghuysen, Hardwick and Knowlton, the population is more than 90 percent white and the average household income is $100,651. Over the past decades, it has lost much of its local news coverage, including the main newspaper that served the area. In its place, Facebook groups have sprung up to help plug the information gap.

Here are three takeaways about what kind of news is needed in the three communities, according to the center:

SERVICE JOURNALISM WANTED – “First, all three communities expressed a desire for some form of “service journalism,” whether it was in the form of more information about the location and content of municipal government meetings, how to find service providers, or contact information for local leaders. Content like this may seem like low-hanging fruit, but publishers who can keep up-to-date and reliable lists like this — all in one place — would provide tangible benefit to their communities.”

SOCIAL MEDIA RELIED ON FOR NEWS – “Second, we learned that people in all three communities rely heavily on Facebook for news and information about their towns and the people in them. While not everyone enjoys the often partisan or misleading information that circulates so easily on Facebook, it is still one of the first to be updated when news breaks and one of the best places for publishers to be highly visible.”

MULTI-LANGUAGE CONTENT/SOLUTIONS-ORIENTED NEWS – “Finally, in two of the three communities — Paterson and Trenton — people want more local news about crime and safety. In two others — Paterson and Blairstown — the publishers may grow their audience if they offer their content in languages other than English. In all three, at least some people mentioned wanting more feel-good, solutions-oriented local news.”

ETHNIC MEDIA GROWING IN NEW JERSEY

Earlier this month, the Center for Cooperative Media released another study, “The State of Ethnic And Community Media In New Jersey.”

The report sought – for the first time – to examine the number of ethnic and community media outlets in New Jersey and learn more about their audiences. Read it here.

According to researchers:

“As the Census data shows, New Jersey is becoming a majority non-white state … Hispanics make up 18% of the population, Black people are 12%, Asians 6%, and multiracial individuals 10%. Ethnic and community media have been instrumental in filling the local news void, particularly due to their language expertise and understanding of cultural nuances within immigrant communities and communities of color.”

Here are some key findings from the report:

• The number of ethnic and community news outlets in New Jersey increased by 15% since 2019.
• About 25% of ethnic and community media in the state serve Asian American communities, while 22% serve Latinos.
• Ten of these news outlets serve the Chinese community; five Korean; five Filipino; two Arab; two Muslim; one Pakistani; and one Hungarian.
• At least 16 news outlets, mostly online platforms, currently serve the African American community.
• About 85% of ethnic and community media in New Jersey are in-language and publish or broadcast in more than 15 languages other than English.
• Black, South Asian and Filipino media in the state mostly produce either English or bilingual content.
• In fiscal year 2022, based on the interviews the center was able to conduct with publishers and editors, roughly 10% of ethnic media news outlets received advertising from NJ state agencies.

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