Questa Del Rio News Welcomes Ellen Miller-Goins as Assistant Editor
We are happy to welcome Ellen Miller-Goins to our staff as assistant editor. Ellen is a veteran journalist and former publisher and editor of the online Sangre de Cristo Chronicle. Ellen is a real pro and will add a welcome layer of professional journalism to our relatively young newsroom.
Born and raised in Red River and educated through 12th grade in Questa, Ellen will be working with us part-time, while managing her family business, Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski & Snowshoe Area and continuing her own writing projects. Ellen’s work with us at Questa News is good news for local journalism. Questa, like most of rural America, is situated in what is known as a news desert. So much of small town, local news goes unreported, and with corporate Big Journalism buying more newspapers and radio and television stations, and consumers getting their news online for free, more and more Americans are exposed to misinformation from questionable news sources. Did you know that local news is the most reliable source of information?
According to the Society for Professional Journalism, “Since the COVID pandemic began, 37,000 journalists have lost their jobs, been furloughed, or had their pay cut.” Questa Del Rio News is here for our community providing a much needed service of accurately reporting local news. We need and appreciate your support. Please think of us as community-supported journalism and keep in touch with us. Send us your announcements, stories and let us know about your events. And please advertise with us, subscribe and send us tax-deductible donations. Since we are a monthly paper, we do our best to get your information out in a timely manner and we need your help with that. So please plan ahead. Thank you for supporting local news!
Local and Rural News is More Important Than You Can Even Imagine
From Society for Professional Journalism
A recent report has documented the closure of 360 newspapers since 2019, resulting in the rise of news deserts in poor and rural communities. The report also outlined the closure of an additional 2,500 newspapers since 2004, averaging two closures a week. The loss of local journalism has magnified the spread of misinformation, as around 44 percent of Americans were exposed to disinformation through untrustworthy websites, impacting the public’s trust in the media.
As communities lose reliable sources for local news, voter participation declines, corruption in both government and business increases and local residents end up paying more in taxes. Despite the loss of print newspapers, digital alternatives have increased. In 2022, there are 545 digital-only state and local sites, with some employing fewer than six full-time reporters. In addition to the increase in digital media, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act of 2021 also offers hope. If passed, it would provide a tax credit to print, digital or broadcast news organizations that hire journalists.
