Louie Graffeo delivers copies of The Post-Gazette for his girlfriend, publisher and editor, Pamela Donnaruma in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 8, 2023. Originally founded as La Gazzetta del Massachusetts, by Pamela Donnaruma's Italian grandfather, the Post-Gazette is the oldest ethnic newspapers in the US.
Winner: 2025 Reviewers Choice Award
Local Newsrooms
Ann Hermes | United States, United States
Photographer: Ann Hermes
Winner: 2025 Reviewers Choice Award
Exhibit Title: Local Newsrooms
Location: United States, United States
For the past six years I’ve photographed local newsrooms from Alaska to Florida, documenting the dedicated but dwindling newspaper landscape. The Local Newsrooms project aims to shed a light on the loss of local newspapers and their impact on communities.
An average of two newspapers shut down every week. In the wake of these closures many communities become news deserts. In their place is an information landscape of nationalized, and increasingly partisan, news that is ripe for misinformation. Studies show after the loss of a local paper, government spending goes up, voter participation declines and cities often lose their bond rating. These impacts are insidious and largely unseen.
To convey the urgency of the issue, I am visiting news deserts to document the impact of the loss of local news and photograph the last days of newspapers about to close. My goal is to raise the importance of this issue to an audience that may not realize what has already been lost, and what is at stake.
Ann Hermes is a Brooklyn and Boston-based visual storyteller. Her personal work explores the roles that outdated, and often-overlooked people and institutions play in our history, culture and future.
She has worked in logistically challenging situations on national and international assignments for over 15 years as a staff photographer for The Christian Science Monitor and other regional news outlets. This work ranged from breaking news coverage of the Arab Spring in Egypt to in-depth stories following Syrian refugees in Eastern Europe. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and The New Republic. Her work exhibited at Photoville in New York City in 2024.
After years of experience in news photography, she is using her documentary expertise to create a visual exploration of the current critical era in journalism and uncover the potential harm that the loss of local newsrooms would bring to our democracy.
ann@hermesphoto.com
For the past six years I’ve photographed local newsrooms from Alaska to Florida, documenting the dedicated but dwindling newspaper landscape. The Local Newsrooms project aims to shed a light on the loss of local newspapers and their impact on communities.
An average of two newspapers shut down every week. In the wake of these closures many communities become news deserts. In their place is an information landscape of nationalized, and increasingly partisan, news that is ripe for misinformation. Studies show after the loss of a local paper, government spending goes up, voter participation declines and cities often lose their bond rating. These impacts are insidious and largely unseen.
To convey the urgency of the issue, I am visiting news deserts to document the impact of the loss of local news and photograph the last days of newspapers about to close. My goal is to raise the importance of this issue to an audience that may not realize what has already been lost, and what is at stake.
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