Starving The Watchdog: Who foots the bill when newspapers disappear?

NPR's Hidden Brain Podcast discusses the free availability of internet news sources that drive paid subscribers away from traditional newspapers. Finance professor Paul Gao, along with co-authors Change Lee and Dermot Murphy, researched what happens when newspapers go out of business and the hidden costs that result.

Whereas most of us treat newspapers like consumer products, new research from Paul Gao, Chang Lee, and Dermot Murphy suggests that they might be more like police departments. Gao, Lee, and Murphy looked at how newspaper closures might affect the cost of borrowing in local governments. What they found is a price tag that may give many taxpayers sticker shock.