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Quiz: Journalism in Your Backyard

March 15, 2020

How did a tiny Iowa newspaper win a Nobel Prize? Which news do Americans trust most? Take the quiz to find out.

Last fall, The Salt Lake Tribune became the first legacy newspaper in the U.S. to:
- Gain non-profit status from the IRS
- Increase its reporting staff after the Great Recession
- Publish only online
- Stay in business by merging with a radio station
Americans trust national news sources more than local news sources.
- True
- False
Beginning in 2014, which four-times-a-week broadsheet provided ongoing coverage of water contamination in a rust belt town?
- The Detroit News
- The Flint Journal
- The Morning Call
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Local news is getting less local. In a 2019 survey, what percent of readers said that the local news they get mostly covers an area other than where they live, such as a nearby city?
- 27
- 37
- 47
- 57
Which newspaper broke the news that Jeffrey Epstein had secured a secret plea deal that enabled him to escape prosecution for sex crimes?
- New York Times
- New York Post
- Miami Herald
- Cleveland Plain Dealer
Some experts say that one effect of local journalism’s demise is that Congressional candidates face more questions about national issues than local issues.
- True
- False
In 2017, a journalist at the 10-person Storm Lake Times in Iowa won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials that:
- Drew attention to racial disparities in recipients of crop subsidies
- Exposed how agricultural companies were secretly funding the government’s defense of a big environmental lawsuit
- Led to the resignation of multiple state legislators over sexual harassment allegations
- Revealed sweetheart deals for government contractors who made campaign contributions
A Brookings Institution report on local news recommends that policymakers pursue which of the following strategies?
- Tax code provisions that encourage more newspapers to operate as nonprofits
- Tax deductions for personal subscriptions to local news organizations
- Tax offsets for production expenditures incurred by newsrooms
- All of the above
Eric Eyre’s investigative reporting on West Virginia’s opioid crisis won a 2017 Pulitzer Prize. The following year, his newspaper, the Charleston Gazette-Mail did what?
- Filed for bankruptcy
- Added reporters to its local news team
- Sold its operation to a hedge fund, which cut staff by a third
- Became a non-profit organization
Which newspaper chain announced in February that it was filing for bankruptcy, putting the publications it owns on shaky ground?
- Gannett
- Gatehouse
- McClatchy
- Tronc

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