By Perry Bacon Jr.
Columnist |
October 17, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
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My vision for addressing the huge decline in local journalism involves hiring 87,000 new journalists for about 1,300 news organizations with more than $10 billion in funding. Such a massive investment in local news isn’t going to happen next week and probably not next year, either.
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But it is also not a pipe dream. There is a growing recognition that the collapse of local news and information is a crisis undermining the United States’ politics and communities. Ten billion isn’t much money for the United States to spend on something the nation defines as a crisis. Millions of dollars are already being pumped into reviving local journalism, although right now that’s largely limited to a few major cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia.
Where would the $10 billion and all those reporters go? There are five principles for local news that can and should be implemented as widely and quickly as possible: news outlets in communities across the country; more outlets with a well-defined, transparent point of view; coverage that is free for everyone; a lot of in-depth reporting available in multiple formats; and news organizations that are nonprofits.
In every community. This is the most important, fundamental principle. A growing number of areas, particularly small towns, either don’t have any news organizations or those organizations are so under-staffed that they don’t cover much of anything. It’s hard to have real democracy in local decision-making when people have fairly little information about what public officials are doing.
So, here’s the solution. The United States is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with about 760,000 people. We need at least one 100-staffer news organization in every district. Some of those districts aren’t a single community or city. And districts, of course, change every 10 years. But if there were well-staffed news organizations in 435 distinct geographic areas around the country, that would result in a huge increase in journalism, particularly places that are now “news deserts.”
This would not merely add new outlets in rural areas. Inevitably, a big metro area has suburbs, exurbs and distinct neighborhoods within the central city. In most cases, the central business district within city limits gets the vast majority of coverage. But the people who live in Prince George’s County don’t get much value from news about D.C.’s mayor.
Having well-staffed news organizations in every community isn’t just about making sure city council and school board meetings get covered. It’s a way to build stronger communities. News organizations should be a forum through which communities hash out their goals and priorities. They can, through their coverage and selection of writers and columnists, elevate voices who aren’t rich or powerful.
In-depth, multiplatform. Local newspapers once did a lot of in-depth reporting but they have laid off tens of thousands of reporters over the past two decades due to declining revenue. Local TV still has high profits but never really had a tradition of in-depth reporting. This is a huge problem. It is essential that local news organizations have beat reporters and investigative teams who do real scrutiny of the police, schools, politicians and other centers of power in each community. These organizations should also cover major business and cultural news.
Because people consume news in such a variety of ways, local news organizations need to be producing stories in text, audio, video and whatever formats emerge in the future. Essentially, we need local versions of outlets like The Post, the New York Times, CNN and NPR — lots of original reporting, accessible in many formats.
Columnist |
October 17, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Share
My vision for addressing the huge decline in local journalism involves hiring 87,000 new journalists for about 1,300 news organizations with more than $10 billion in funding. Such a massive investment in local news isn’t going to happen next week and probably not next year, either.
Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
But it is also not a pipe dream. There is a growing recognition that the collapse of local news and information is a crisis undermining the United States’ politics and communities. Ten billion isn’t much money for the United States to spend on something the nation defines as a crisis. Millions of dollars are already being pumped into reviving local journalism, although right now that’s largely limited to a few major cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia.
Where would the $10 billion and all those reporters go? There are five principles for local news that can and should be implemented as widely and quickly as possible: news outlets in communities across the country; more outlets with a well-defined, transparent point of view; coverage that is free for everyone; a lot of in-depth reporting available in multiple formats; and news organizations that are nonprofits.
In every community. This is the most important, fundamental principle. A growing number of areas, particularly small towns, either don’t have any news organizations or those organizations are so under-staffed that they don’t cover much of anything. It’s hard to have real democracy in local decision-making when people have fairly little information about what public officials are doing.
So, here’s the solution. The United States is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with about 760,000 people. We need at least one 100-staffer news organization in every district. Some of those districts aren’t a single community or city. And districts, of course, change every 10 years. But if there were well-staffed news organizations in 435 distinct geographic areas around the country, that would result in a huge increase in journalism, particularly places that are now “news deserts.”
This would not merely add new outlets in rural areas. Inevitably, a big metro area has suburbs, exurbs and distinct neighborhoods within the central city. In most cases, the central business district within city limits gets the vast majority of coverage. But the people who live in Prince George’s County don’t get much value from news about D.C.’s mayor.
Having well-staffed news organizations in every community isn’t just about making sure city council and school board meetings get covered. It’s a way to build stronger communities. News organizations should be a forum through which communities hash out their goals and priorities. They can, through their coverage and selection of writers and columnists, elevate voices who aren’t rich or powerful.
In-depth, multiplatform. Local newspapers once did a lot of in-depth reporting but they have laid off tens of thousands of reporters over the past two decades due to declining revenue. Local TV still has high profits but never really had a tradition of in-depth reporting. This is a huge problem. It is essential that local news organizations have beat reporters and investigative teams who do real scrutiny of the police, schools, politicians and other centers of power in each community. These organizations should also cover major business and cultural news.
Because people consume news in such a variety of ways, local news organizations need to be producing stories in text, audio, video and whatever formats emerge in the future. Essentially, we need local versions of outlets like The Post, the New York Times, CNN and NPR — lots of original reporting, accessible in many formats.
