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I'm getting to the point where I actually think the federal government should create a taxpayer-backed "journalism fund" which pays out subsidies to support local papers.
That would create problems of its own. But it increasingly feels better than the alternative.
That would create problems of its own. But it increasingly feels better than the alternative.
There are plenty of other industries where the government recognizes that the need for services in some communities exceeds the profit at which the free market could provide it.
We subsidize rural hospitals and rural airports. Maybe we should subsidize rural journalists too.
We subsidize rural hospitals and rural airports. Maybe we should subsidize rural journalists too.
The challenge would be creating a complete and total firewall between the funding and editorial control of the papers.
We can't have the government dictating content, or even just setting up qualifications for the fund in a way that incentivizes papers to change their content.
We can't have the government dictating content, or even just setting up qualifications for the fund in a way that incentivizes papers to change their content.
But honestly, it seems worth the effort to try to grapple with that problem because in one sense, we already are. Billionaires are now often subsidizing papers themselves, and as the @reviewjournal shows, they often put their agenda in the editorial seat. Is that really better?
