Tomorrow, Shanghai Daily will celebrate its 21st birthday. In 2020 when global news consumption is at an all time high, newspapers around the world are in jeopardy. At a time when reliable information is at its most fundamental, we ask, 鈥渨hat happens in the absence of local news?鈥�

At its launch, Shanghai Daily referred to itself as 鈥淪hanghai鈥檚 window to the world,鈥� and as veteran journalist Sue Hill wrote in her article marking the 15th anniversary of the publication, it wasn鈥檛 an easy window to open. As the first local English-language newspaper on the Chinese mainland, Shanghai Daily鈥檚 challenge was to establish credibility with foreign readers as a trustworthy news source.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Liu Qi joined the paper in 2000 as a copy editor. 鈥淚 was excited to finally put what I鈥檇 learned about journalism into practice,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淏ack then, Shanghai Daily was a novelty and that gap carved a niche market for us.鈥�

Fast forward, and Shanghai Daily remains the city鈥檚 only English-language newspaper. But while that hasn鈥檛 changed, the landscape of newspapers around the world couldn鈥檛 look more different.

The hand that feeds you

During COVID-19, it鈥檚 no surprise that print and online news readership surged. And while many turn to local news, a long-trusted lifeline, newspapers around the world are collapsing. In America alone, a fatal concoction of under-funding mixed with the boom in online news retailers saw a 45 percent reduction in newspapers over nine years.

Newspapers are not like most goods we buy. Choose to tighten your financial belt and you鈥檒l save money. But as research shows, when it comes to newspapers, if governments skimp on pennies, communities pay in pounds.

Towns and cities borrow money to open community centers, build parks and improve transport links. Financial Professor Dermot Murphy, author of 鈥淔inancing Dies in Darkness? The Impact of Newspaper Closures on Public Finance,鈥� looked closely at the fiscal effect of newspaper cuts on local communities. He discovered a link between the cost of loans to cities and towns with newspaper closures. In short, as local publication get axed, government borrowing costs go up. And whose door does this debt land on? The taxpayers.

Worryingly, consumers aren鈥檛 aware of what鈥檚 happening to local news and the direct impact it has on them. A 2019 Pew Research Center study found that most Americans believe their local news outlet is healthy, yet less than one in six subscribe to it. And it鈥檚 easy to see why. There are countless free ways to read the news. Between Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and WeChat, plus countless blogs and websites, it makes perfect sense to save our money. Except it doesn鈥檛.

Studies show that online sources aren鈥檛 adequate replacements for strong local news. If they were, communities wouldn鈥檛 bear the brunt of rising borrowing costs. What鈥檚 more, larger outlets don鈥檛 cover much about what鈥檚 going on at a local level. Meaning all manner of things are affected when a local newspaper closes, everything from public health, to education, and the environment.

And that鈥檚 not all. Swapping an established local news source for a newsfeed doesn鈥檛 just shape communities, it has the power to form history.

Putting the news in newsfeed

In her 2019 TED talk, journalist Carole Cadwalladr called out the 鈥済ods of Silicon Valley,鈥� making a powerful plea against the dangers of social media. Cadwalladr, who tracked the use of adverts on Facebook in the run up to the 2016 BREXIT referendum, refers to a 鈥渇ire-hose of disinformation鈥� targeted at swing voters. She then links the same tactics to the 2016 US presidential election. 鈥淲hat happens on Facebook stays on Facebook,鈥� says Cadwalladr. 鈥淥nly you see your news feed, and then it vanishes, so it鈥檚 impossible to research anything.鈥�

What happens in the limits of our newsfeeds, when we鈥檙e caught in a crossfire of targeted information from unknown sources?

Margaret Sullivan, a media columnist for the Washington Post, has witnessed the decline of local news with growing concern. Appointed the first female editor of The Buffalo News, Sullivan speaks about the effects of harsh cuts to the paper: 鈥淲orthy local reporting requires time, expertise, talent and institutional knowledge. At the Buffalo News, we had less of those every month, and readers knew it. The same has happened across the larger landscape of local news.鈥�

The lack of real journalism in the Buffalo community meant 鈥減eople were relying on gossip, conservation radio or social media. People were really deep into their echo chambers.鈥�

Globally, the way we engage with news has become unrecognizable. Six in 10 Internet users say their primary reason for using the Internet is to keep up with news and current affairs. It鈥檚 a shift local newspapers have had to address, not only in their own interest, but in the interest of the communities they serve. Shanghai Daily has worked to accommodate readership trends from the outset. 鈥淲e鈥檝e made changes accordingly,鈥� explains Liu. 鈥淎t the beginning we were a broadsheet, then a tabloid, and in 2017 we launched SHINE.鈥�

The digital arm of Shanghai Daily SHINE provides readers with breaking news, in-depth opinions and insightful investigations into local issues. Crucially, it鈥檚 a reliable source.

Professor Deng Jianguo at Fudan University School of Journalism stresses the importance of established local news representation in the mass of online providers, 鈥渨e not only need local media, we need hyper-local media that center around serving its local audience and businesses diligently. That鈥檚 why community media are very important, though they may not solely exist in hard-copy newspapers nowadays.鈥�

Protected, not possessed

As the 2020 BBC documentary, 鈥淭he Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty鈥� revealed, trusted national papers around the world receive income from all manner of places. In doing so, some have their headlines written for them and their directions dictated to them. Referring to Murdoch and the impact he鈥檚 had, journalist Joel Golby writes for The Guardian, 鈥渢his is just one tiny slice of bastard. For the rest of it, you鈥檒l have to keep watching the news.鈥� While not blanket reasoning, it鈥檚 a stark example of how trusted institutions can become privy to external influence and therefore fail to serve the very philosophy they symbolize.

Here the watchdog role of local press is understood. We鈥檙e supported in holding our authorities to account, in asking important questions, and in serving our community with the information it needs to thrive. As Professor Deng highlights, 鈥渢o a large extent, many media organizations become irrelevant because they forget to serve where they belong.鈥�

In 2001 Shanghai Daily brought news of an urgent sweep of the city schools after 300 students suffered severe food poisoning, and it was here you read about a former city official being sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes. As watchdogs of our shared community, we鈥檝e offered insight into issues such as overcrowding in hospitals, the fight against pollution, and the unmet needs of our elderly.

The beating heart of community

A local newspaper鈥檚 purpose isn鈥檛 just to keep officials accountable and citizens armed with the right information. A local newspaper is more than that. We are the village square, the community hall, the people鈥檚 park. A place of connection, common reality and community.

Over the years, Shanghai Daily has invited you into the lives of members of our shared home-from-home. We鈥檝e told your stories and represented your beliefs. We鈥檝e shared your hopes, successes, fears and frustrations.

Together, we celebrated the birth of our city鈥檚 first baby of the new century, and mourned the tragic death of a local marathon runner. We鈥檝e met the teachers who guide our children and the nurses who care for our elderly. We鈥檝e spoken to the architects who shape our city and the servicemen who keep it safe.

From student to retiree, entrepreneur to volunteer, we鈥檝e sought to represent you, one person at a time.

And we鈥檙e just getting started.

This is the first article I鈥檝e penned for Shanghai Daily since recently joining the paper as a columnist. My remit on joining the team? Write what matters. Go into the community, speak with its people about their wants and needs, then deliver them. If that isn鈥檛 at the beating heart of what ever local newspaper should be, what is?

So here鈥檚 to another 21 years with Shanghai Daily. Because strong local news is what every community needs, and what every community deserves.