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California’s news industry is in steep decline. Here’s what is at stake

A blindfolded eagle is seen through a website screenshot that has lines of the story cut out. The lines are falling down.
(Jim Cooke / Los Angeles Times)

Economic forces and new technology have dramatically reduced local reporting power. This series examines the crisis and California’s novel efforts to save local news.

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Years after the death of its newspaper, Richmond’s primary source of local news is a website funded by Chevron, the oil giant whose refinery looms over the city’s horizon.

An emaciated newspaper and warring websites try to cover Long Beach. Until recently, the Long Beach Post seemed to have the journalistic answers.

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