About Me

I am a high school student doing a senior thesis project on the Local News Crisis and the Disinformation Crisis that it enables.

When I needed to know what was happening in my community, I turned to my local newspaper, The Northwest Current. The Current was a weekly paper that circulated in Northwest Washington, DC and found its way onto my lawn every Thursday… until it didn’t.

In 2019, the Current became another victim of the Local News Crisis. It ceased circulation, leaving a thriving community with no answer to the simple question, “What’s going on today?” The Current had local school updates, a police blotter, and just about every detail one needed to know about my neck of the woods; and if it weren’t for my ability to access social media, its loss would have left me in the dark about my own community.

When the Current initially disappeared, I thought that it had, as businesses sometimes do, run into financial problems. What I found, however, was much, much worse. Thus began my research into the Local News Crisis, which culminates in the social media campaign and website that you see today.