- Michigan has lost nearly half of its newspapers and more than half of its newspaper jobs in recent years
- That has made it hard to get accurate information into the hands of residents, panelists said at the latest Bridge Michigan Lunch Break
- Four panelists from media, government, and business joined Bridge Regional Editor Justin Hinkley for a frank discussion about the state of the media in Michigan
With fewer news outlets and fewer reporters working at the outlets that remain, it’s getting harder to get accurate information into the hands of Michiganders.
And that’s making people less likely to trust the information they come across.
That was among the messages of four panelists who joined Bridge Regional Editor Justin Hinkley on Wednesday for a Bridge Michigan Lunch Break discussion on the state of the media in Michigan.
Hinkley moderated a discussion among Allison Donahue, program manager at Grand Rapids nonprofit news source The Rapidian, Marie Lee, owner and editor at Encore Magazine in Kalamazoo, Jonathan Seyferth, city manager of Muskegon, and Ben Slocum, chair of the board for the Petoskey Chamber.
If you missed the discussion, you can watch it here:
Michigan has lost 42% of its newspapers in the last 20 years, the 15th-largest percentage decline in the nation, according to the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. The state lost 65% of its newspaper jobs between 2013 and 2023, America’s seventh-largest percentage loss.
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Bridge’s Lunch Break monthly series focuses on timely topics facing our state. Previous discussions have included examinations of Michigan tourism, aging in Michigan, the impact of Trump policies in Michigan, education challenges and opportunities, solutions to gun violence, the long-term impact of pollution from the automotive industry and ideas for growing the state’s population.
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