Abstract
This dissertation examines both how the news industry has changed over the past few decades and how those changes have affected news content and citizen engagement with local politics. Chapter 1 introduces the topic. Chapter 2 details the rise in newspapers owned and operated by investment firms and examines its effect on local newspaper content and citizen engagement. I find that newspapers purchased by investment firms reduced coverage of local politics and increased coverage of national politics and sports, at the expense of citizen knowledge and turnout in local elections. Chapter 3 investigates local newspapers that have reduced their printing schedules from daily to weekly, and I find that overall stories about local politics decrease but the share of stories about local politics remains unaffected. Chapter 4 uses an original survey experiment to investigate the effects of national political reporting on affective polarization.