Areas lacking news coverage tend to show a greater propensity for misinformation, populism, and democratic crises associated with high electoral abstention, a study by the University of Beira Interior (UBI) indicates.
“News deserts emerge in regions distant from major centers, with low economic activity, where traditional newspapers can no longer sustain themselves and the area is unattractive for new ventures in the sector,” the study notes.
This scenario is particularly challenging in times of rapid misinformation dissemination through digital media in local contexts.
The study’s authors explain that digital media is seen as the primary source of local misinformation due to a lack of content verification circulating on social networks.
Thus, the absence of local news coverage creates conditions conducive to the spread of misinformation, “amplified by the algorithmic functioning of digital platforms, which favor popularity and interaction over verification and accuracy.”
“The emergence of news deserts becomes particularly concerning in a context where misinformation spreads rapidly through digital social networks, often without any journalistic filtering,” the researchers assert.
In this sense, these territories tend to show a greater propensity for misinformation, populism, and democratic crises associated with high electoral abstention rates.
“Time pressure and resource scarcity, identified in Portugal and Spain, further lead to an excessive reliance on official sources,” resulting in the erosion of the local public sphere and “casual democracies.”
Nevertheless, several studies indicate that mitigating misinformation can be effective through strengthening local media and establishing a trustful relationship with the public.
The study, developed by LabCom—Research Unit in Communication Sciences at UBI, aimed to “deepen the analysis of its implications for informational citizenship, democracy, and social cohesion.”
