EOTO -- NEWS DESERTS

   In this day and age, we rely on the media for everything. Without new sources, we would have no idea what was going on in the world. Imagine living in an environment completely restricted by all news. Well, over 200 counties in The United States are living in areas called "news deserts". News Deserts are completely consuming areas and are depriving them from what is occurring in society. A news desert is defined as a geographical area where there is little to no news coverage. This means that there is no source of local news, whether that is written or televised, or any newspaper. Even my hometown is considered a low-grade news desert because in our large town of just under 500,000 people, we only have one newspaper. As social media and other internet applications get more prevalent, these items will start to disappear quicker and quicker.

    It is sad to see these areas receive these conditions because if they are receiving biased information, there is no way of fact checking anything. This can, and has, lead to corrupt county or state wide leaders. This also causes for there to be few outlets to host elections, whether that is at the local, state, or national level. Having such a massive decrease in information can be extremely dangerous. Knowing that if these individuals, who live in these areas, choose to vote, they will be voting in an uneducated matter. Even if they believe they "know the candidate", this may be misleading due to the bias in whatever news they do have. These groups of uneducated voters is a very relevant thing and maximizing news in these areas could help prevent this major issue. The saddest part about this problem is that their position is involuntary. These individuals may have to stay in these areas for work, family, or financial reasons; therefore, it is not fair that they are being punished by these outlets.