Beyond the News Desert: Engaged Journalism Education in Underrepresented Communities

The underlying issue of “news deserts”—information vacuums caused by the layoffs of tens of thousands of journalists and the closure of hundreds of newspapers dating back to the early 2000s—has been documented across the country. News deserts, however, are not a new phenomenon in communities of color, whose issues have been ignored or under-reported for centuries. Drawing on discussions at the 2025 World Journalism Education Congress and the Hofstra University–based Suburban News Deserts Research Project, this article proposes a three-part blueprint for community-centered journalism pedagogy. The authors argue that university-led journalism initiatives can play a critical role in addressing the information needs of communities of color that have been historically marginalized by mainstream news coverage.