A NEW HOPE? Local journalism as a mitigation hub for misinformation

Authors: Prof. Dr. Gregory Perreault und Dr. Phoebe Maares

The rise of far-right extremism necessitates an evaluation of the ideal means of offering robust information quality to the public, even as hostile actors engage in expansive campaigns of misinformation. This forum manuscript centers on the role of local journalism as a means of combating misinformation, considering notable case studies from Germany and the United States. We argue that in order to enhance local journalism's ability to combat misinformation requires (1) response to misinformation through in-kind platforms and (2) response to misinformation through collaboration.

The article was published on January 29, 2026 in Journal of Applied Communication Research.

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