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SPENCER – To my fellow Spencer residents, I am honored to write for The Spencer Journal this summer and work alongside excellent people to inform the public.
Local news is both an incredibly important and underestimated form of sharing information with the community. A fact sheet from Pew Research Center reveals only 21% of Americans reported reading local news closely in 2025, a drop from 37% in 2016.
Further, a 2019 peer reviewed article finds that decreases in local news correlate to increases in political polarization. Another 2025 Pew Research Center survey reports eight out of 10 Americans felt Republicans and Democrats could not agree on basic facts.
No matter which way you vote, severe political polarization makes conversations impossible and splits people apart. With local news as a vital source for providing a set of unbiased facts, it creates a common foundation for people to discuss issues within their community.
As someone who has lived in Spencer for nearly her whole life and graduated from David Prouty, I can proudly say our town embodies warmth and community care. I aim to continue demonstrating that spirit through high quality journalism that both informs and connects the public.
My reporting will focus on politics, developments in town, and the events important to our community.
About Olivia
Olivia Hintlian is a student journalist who grew up in Spencer and graduated as part of David Prouty’s class of 2025. With Spencer in her bones, she’s passionate about reporting on topics pertinent to the people and uniting the community. When she’s away from her hometown, she’s reporting on stories for Emerson College’s newspaper The Berkeley Beacon in Boston or writing poetry. She reads a copious amount of books and cracks jokes in hopes one will land in her spare time. Speaking of jokes, what do you say to an article you just finished? Bye-line.
