Today the League of Women Voters of Snohomish County issued the following statement in response to the news on Wednesday that Carpenter Media Group announced the layoffs of 12 newsroom staff at The Everett Herald.
“The League of Women Voters of Snohomish County supports the staff at the Everett Herald and is deeply aware of the impacts this decision has on their lives, as well as the effect it will have on providing independent news in our area.
Local journalism matters, and as we have learned from the published study by the League of Women Voters of Washington, we know it affects democracy. This is not a journalism problem, it’s a democracy problem.
We will look to Carpenter Media Group to uphold their duty to provide credible in-depth news and continue the valuable long standing work of the Everett Herald.”
Karen Crowley, President 2023-24
Find the link to the PDF of the LWVWA study here. Democracy suffers when communities have no source of credible local news:
- Fewer people vote and run for office.
- People are less engaged in their communities and political polarization grows.
- Accurate public health information is harder to obtain.
- Government costs more and corruption grows when reporters aren’t looking over officials’ shoulders.