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What Happens When A Powerful Corporation Owns The Local News?

RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: A view of the Chevron refinery on November 17, 2021 in Richmond, California. U.S. President Joe Biden is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the surge in gas prices in United States. California has the highest average price for a gallon of regular gasoline at $4.682, breaking the record high of $4.671 from October 2012. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What Happens When A Powerful Corporation Owns The Local News?

RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: A view of the Chevron refinery on November 17, 2021 in Richmond, California. U.S. President Joe Biden is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the surge in gas prices in United States. California has the highest average price for a gallon of regular gasoline at $4.682, breaking the record high of $4.671 from October 2012. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What Happens When A Powerful Corporation Owns The Local News?

When news outlets shut down in a city, that creates what's often called a news desert. But in Richmond, California, NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik says the situation is more like a news mirage. Energy giant Chevron is the biggest employer - and the biggest polluter in the California city. Chevron also owns the local news site. How does that impact the community there? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Folkenflik and Miranda Green, director of investigations for the news site Floodlight - about what happens when a major corporation owns the local news. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: A view of the Chevron refinery on November 17, 2021 in Richmond, California. U.S. President Joe Biden is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the surge in gas prices in United States. California has the highest average price for a gallon of regular gasoline at $4.682, breaking the record high of $4.671 from October 2012. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 

When news outlets shut down in a city, that creates what's often called a news desert. But in Richmond, California, NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik says the situation is more like a news mirage.

Energy giant Chevron is the biggest employer - and the biggest polluter in the California city. Chevron also owns the local news site. How does that impact the community there?

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Folkenflik and Miranda Green, director of investigations for the news site Floodlight - about what happens when a major corporation owns the local news.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

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