Latest Ballotpedia “President’s Letter” Assesses State of the Media

Leslie Graves, President and CEO of Ballotpedia–a founding member of EnCiv–devotes her July 2019 letter to the “state of the media”.

The letter begins by quickly recapping Ballotpedia’s history:

“When Ballotpedia was launched in 2007, it only covered one topic—namely, statewide ballot measures. Two facts were clear:

• • Newspaper circulation and ad revenue were declining, and as a result, newspapers were laying off reporters and editors.
  • Media coverage of statewide ballot measures, which had never been great, was getting worse. It was incomplete and biased.

The thought was that even though newspapers were in decline, and their coverage of ballot measures was particularly inadequate, there was still a large audience for ballot measure coverage. But what that audience wanted was:

• • Digital one-stop-shopping
  • Comprehensive, accurate, non-biased coverage.”

The letter goes on to assess several developments in the media:’

• “What’s going on with the newspaper industry?”
• “What’s going on with the digital-only news operations that arose to replace the newspapers?”
• “Why is Ballotpedia thriving in this environment, and what are our challenges?”

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