ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford community members gathered Tuesday night to discuss the state of local news and its disapperance.

Rockford University hosted a town hall meeting with various members of the local media. Experts have noticed a diminishing amount of local news as technology evolves.

Newspapers, TV and radio stations are competing with the internet, creating a lack of accountability and less messaging for community organizations and small businesses.

Tuesday night’s town hall meeting had representatives from Rockford newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. In fact, Eyewitness News’ every own Eric Wilson was one of the speakers. They talked about how their outlets are using technology and other ways to get information out to the public.

The state of local media has been an emerging problem, with newspapers shutting down and AM radio potentially being taken out of cars.

Former Congressman Don Manzullo explained the role that local journalism plays in politics.

“Media keeps politicians accountable. Somebody has to be there to make sure that they don’t say one thing one day and another thing the other day, and so we’ve always had that great tradition in America where the press has always been involved heavily in politics,” Manzullo said. “We don’t have that nowadays.”

The State of Illinois has a “Local Media Task Force” that is trying to find new ways of getting information to the public.