COLLEGE STATION, TX — Local newspapers across the US are struggling tonight to make ends meet.
But a group of Aggie researchers says they've found a way to restore the public trust in local news.
Three Texas A&M professors say only 42% of Americans view a clear divide between fact and opinion in the news.
After working with the desert sun newspaper in California, they found local newspapers can cut out polarization by changing opinion pages - and removing national politics.
"If local newspapers can get back to their bread and butter to the extent possible and get polarizing figures like Trump and some of the national party leaders out of their local newspaper content, whether its the opinion page or the news page as much as they can, it might help kind of stem this rising trend of polarization across the country." shared Johanna Dunaway, associate professor of Communications at Texas A&M.
Dunaway says stories focused on local news are more relevant to readers and viewers than those out of Washington DC.
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