Brennan Center: News Deserts Leave Voters Vulnerable to Election Misinformation. “In recent years, the local journalism ecosystem has shrunk dramatically amid the closure and consolidation of small local news outlets and the reduction in local coverage by larger outlets that remain. The absence of locally specific news has rendered many communities news deserts — areas “with limited access to the sort of credible and comprehensive news and information that feeds democracy at the grassroots level.” Without locally contextualized, relevant news, communities must look elsewhere for vital information about political events such as elections. Increasingly, this gap is filled by online sources, notably social media groups and news influencers. A recent survey by Northwestern University found that one-third of Chicago-area respondents turned to content creators on social media or platforms like Substack for daily local news, with just 18 percent looking to local newspapers. Residents of areas without a robust local news landscape likely have an even greater need to look elsewhere for their news..