The Post Mattered

NY Times says that newspapers do matter, and use the Cincinnati Post as an example:

... the closing of The Post... has led to lower voter turnout, fewer candidates running for municipal office in the suburbs most reliant on The Post, and greater re-election chances for incumbents.

...our results cover only the Kentucky suburbs, because Ohio has not held regular municipal elections since the Post closed, and represent only the short-run consequences of the paper’s closing. Future research could investigate whether political engagement and competition return to their pre-closure level in the long run.