Layoffs at Tronc’s New York Daily News nearly decimated the newspaper’s staff, leaving some to claim the nation’s biggest city a local news desert. How can it be that local news is dying in a city of more than 10 million people? Also, when candidates and special interests turn journalists’ work into endorsements and mixed messages about misinformation on Facebook. From Missouri School of Journalism professors Amy Simons , Ryan Thomas and Mike McKean : Views of the News.