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For people who study journalism and track developments in the field, there has been a growing recognition that local news is being created, found, and amplified in ways that would not have been recognizable even a few years ago— the rise of the independent newsfluencer is just the latest example. At the same time, the lens through which we see the journalism field is changing from news-desert deficit to information-ocean overabundance —we are coming to see that, rather than starving for information ( even in so-called news deserts ), people are awash in it, and journalists are the beacons that point the way toward verified, fact-based content.…