Local newspapers are closing at a rate of about two per week in the US, and I think that's a bigger threat to democracy than any single politician. Without reporters who actually attend city council meetings and dig through public records, who's left to hold local officials accountable? National outlets can't cover every small-town zoning scandal or school board decision, so we end up with rumors and Facebook rants filling the void. The 'digital era' argument that online news replaces print ignores that most of those sites just aggregate wire stories without original reporting. Is the loss of local journalism really something we can afford to accept as inevitable?