Death of regional papers is financially driven and down to the rise of the Internet.
Now news is click driven it pander to sensationalism and high/quick turnover of stories rather than looking at anything in any depth at all.
This election very much is characterised by that. Johnson in particular realises that the media have no power to hold him to account and when challenged by c4 the Conservative Party responded by threatening the channel's broadcast licence and funding.
It also does a lot to explain regional issue and the idea of 'the left behind'. There has been no holding to account in local politics for some considerable time and that's let complacency and corruption fester. On a local level people are aware of this, which is why there is an awful lot of disillusionment and resentment building. Not helped by the biggest cuts to the most deprived areas (which traditionally have always been Labour held).
Thus Labour are often resented locally more because cuts are most apparent to real lives on a council led basis. It's come from national level but local mismanagement, nepotism and just a general poor standard of leadership have been just as noticed.
Blame has been cleverly outsourced to the EU on one level and national responsibility pinned on local government on another.
If local newspapers had more teeth things might not have festered to the same degree.
What I find interesting is the people I know who are older / more 'somewheres' tend to still read out local newspaper but the 'young kind capitalists', 'centrists' and 'progressives' are much less likely to.
And that also matters because you have two groups - one who know and care about what's happening in their wider community and one who are somewhat disconnected to it.
Everything happening atm comes down to technological change, particularly the Internet. Jobs lost in manufacturing are mainly down to increased automation not immigration. The Internet has made us vulnerable - not to outside foreign forces primarily, but our own desire for titillation and entertainment rather than a genuine interest in communities and social cohesion. People would rather watch reality TV than watch something in depth about political issues which may greatly affect them 'because its boring'. Hence the rise of the 'celebrity politician'.
That and our dreadful political system where voter problems are only given priority if they are issues that are of importance in marginal seats. If you are a minority, unless you can display your 'woke point score appeal' (people are buying into social justice as if its a brand as part of superficial consumerism rather than out of more in depth concern and understanding) to a wider audience, you won't get time of day. If your issue is regional but in a safe seat, why should anyone bother to listen. It's not worth their time. The byproduct of the rise of the Internet has been populism.
It's all a potent mix and until someone starts to point this out and confront how it works against the people we are stuffed. That's why none of the major parties are working for the majority right now because they are trying to manipulate the situation for their advantage rather than tackle it head on.
The head on tackling will ultimately come from the grass roots. But could be a very long time away and not before the country has been destroyed in ways we don't yet fully comprehend and lack the foresight to see coming.
Because we are all too busy watching Strictly or I'm a Celebrity or some idiot on YouTube.
/rant