Alexander Hamilton is all the rage (again) these days. Margaret Sullivan paraphrases one of his key statements about a working democracy. Citizens “need reliable reporting about the activities of government and politicians.” But the local news industry has been in nonstop duels with reality. “These days, local news is withering in many places across America. The United States is dotted with ‘news deserts,’ regions where no newspaper or other local news organization exists. In many other places, once-vibrant local outlets have become ‘ghost newspapers’—their name remains, and you can still buy a subscription, but their staff and ambitions are so diminished that they can no longer do the day-to-day reporting that allows citizens to make good decisions at the polls about their governmental representatives.” The Atlantic: The Constitution Doesn’t Work Without Local News.

+ To make matters worse, those news vacuums are being filled by partisan hackers masquerading as news sites. Neiman Lab: Hundreds of hyperpartisan sites are masquerading as local news. This map shows if there’s one near you.