COURIER’s new politics editor, Carolyn Fiddler, shares why she’s joining the team.
The media is at war.
Worse, the media appears to be losing that war.
The media ecosystem in our country has drastically changed over the past decade, and despite the best efforts of reliable news organizations and watchdogs like Media Matters, this shift in media has facilitated the rampant disinformation that has fomented widespread distrust in our democratic institutions, in hard facts, and even in our fellow Americans. This distrust is a threat to America’s very future, including our ability to build a nation, elect a government, and grow a society that works for everyone.
And this distrust is married to another debilitating media trend: the death of locally focused, locally sourced journalism. In a nation where the vast majority of the laws and policies that impact people literally every day are passed in state legislatures and local government meetings, coverage of these measures and their very real effects on folks’ lives has dwindled to near nonexistence. And as voters face extreme policy shifts at the state and local levels in the wake of the Dobbs decision, this coverage gap is more debilitating than ever.
This is why I’m proud to bring my many years of media and state policy expertise to COURIER.
COURIER is a civic media company that works to protect and strengthen our democracy through credible, fact-based journalism, reaching far outside of the Beltway bubble. By reporting on and in the communities we serve, COURIER is creating a more informed and engaged nation. COURIER’s reporting — which is focused on eight key states — is centered on the people, policies, and events that tangibly affect Americans’ lives.
COURIER’s journalists focus their reporting on efforts to strengthen communities, rebuild struggling economies, expand access to health care and child care, address the climate crisis, and reduce inequality in all forms — and on the leaders championing those efforts. Our reporters are relentless in covering attempts or actions to undermine democratic institutions and freedoms — especially voting rights — and we are just as relentless in holding the public actors who are advancing those efforts accountable.
But all the quality, community-focused reporting in the world is useless if it doesn’t reach people where they are. COURIER’s reporting is produced for the social media platforms and online channels our audiences spend their time on, with an emphasis on video, graphics, and skimmable newsletters to inform and engage our audiences in the ways everyday Americans consume information today.
Good information is the lifeblood of democracy, and that democracy will fail when factual journalism is out of reach.
The media is at war. But we can still win.
Learn more about COURIER and our mission at couriernewsroom.com.
