Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Brought to you by WWU's College of the Environment and the Salish Sea Institute in partnership with the WWU Alumni Association

The Salish Sea is one body of water demarcated by an international border where loonies and toonies and dollars and cents are the respective coins of the realm. A common language is shared across the border but news seldom is. Both sides of this border have suffered from what writer William Dietrich describes in “Erosion in local news threatens democracy” as "news deserts" and "ghost papers," a collapse of traditional news reporting resulting from the loss of local media ownership and decimation of newsrooms. How does the decline of news reporting and news readership affect the public's understanding of transboundary issues, policies and decisions? How has “news” and its delivery been redefined? Is there a future for the news? What is “news” anyway?

https://alumni.wwu.edu/event/read-all-about-it-whats-news-salish-sea