If you are worried about the future of the news industry, you should read “the Reconstruction of American Journalism.” The report, commissioned by the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, concedes that today’s informed citizen has access to plenty of information. As traditional newspapers fade away, partisan news sources, bloggers and websites filled with databases of government activity are filling the void.
But the authors are skeptical that those new forms of media can replace the “explanatory reporting” done by professional journalists who have the resources to cover local affairs. After arguing that our democracy depends on professional journalism, the authors offer this call to action:
American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting independent news reporting in this new environment—as society has, at much greater expense, for public needs like education, health care, scientific advancement, and cultural preservation— through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy, and government policy.
Here are their six solutions:
1. The Internal Revenue Service or Congress should clearly and explicitly authorize any independent news organization substantially devoted to reporting on public affairs to be created as or converted into a nonprofit entity or a Low-profit Limited Liability Corporation serving the public interest, regardless of its mix of financial support, including commercial sponsorship and advertising.
2. Philanthropists, foundations, and community foundations should substantially increase their support for news organizations that have demonstrated a substantial commitment to public affairs and accountability reporting.
3. Public radio and television should be substantially reoriented to provide significant local news reporting in every community served by public stations and their Web sites.
4. Universities, both public and private, should become on-going sources of local, state, specialized subject, and accountability news reporting as part of their educational missions.
5. A national Fund for Local News should be created with money the Federal Communications Commission now collects from or could impose on telecom users, television and radio broadcast licensees, or Internet service providers and administered in open competition through state Local News Fund Councils.
6. More should be done—by journalists, nonprofit organizations, and governments—to increase the accessibility and usefulness of public information collected by federal, state, and local governments, to facilitate the gathering and dissemination of public information by citizens, and to expand public recognition of the many sources of relevant reporting.
Do these seem like reasonable solutions? Or do you think government intervention will be counterproductive?
Do you even agree with the premise of the Columbia report, that “explanatory journalism” is under threat and needs to be saved? Please share your thoughts below.
