As if They are not Covering This City: Audiences’ Perception of Politicized Local News

The decline of local media due to the intermingled effects of technological and economic forces has left many local communities in news deserts or reliant on hyperlocal news producers. Research about local news provision has put the concept of place high on the agenda of journalism studies, with growing calls for the de-romanticization of local media and de-Westernization of media scholarship. Heeding these calls and taking an audience-centred perspective, this paper provides insights into how local audiences fulfil their information needs in a politicized media landscape that has gone through post-communist media transformation. Based on eight focus groups in three Serbian municipalities, this paper examines three collective narratives articulated by citizens: (1) politicization of local media and (dis)trust; (2) the need for positive but objective news; and (3) a lack of citizens’ voices in the news. Overall, these narratives show that the mere existence of local outlets does not guarantee that audience needs will be fulfilled, and that the politicized local media landscape leaves citizens creating different tactics for finding information about their communities.