As the death spiral ravaging local news picks up speed, eliminating one-third of all newspapers since 2005, calls are growing for taxpayers and corporations to cover the costs of reporters and media outlets.
Arguing that the Founding Fathers treasured a free press and protected it in the First Amendment, those urging federal and Wall Street action said it is the only way to preserve democracy.
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“The founders of our country believed a free press was vitally important to our democracy,” said a new report on the dying industry from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.
The just-issued State of Local News report charts the decline of local media and predicted it will get worse without an infusion of cash.
“There was both good news and bad news for local journalism this past year. The good news raised the possibility that a range of proposals and programs could begin to arrest the steep loss of local news over the past two decades and, perhaps, revive journalism in some places that have lost their news. The headlines on the bad news resoundingly conveyed the message that urgent action is needed in many venues — from boardrooms to the halls of Congress — and by many, including civic-minded organizations and entrepreneurs,” the report said.
It cited pending legislation that would help pay for journalists and news technology and recommended better internet access, which President Joe Biden has sought.
But whether the public and Wall Street are willing to spend for journalism might be a moot problem soon because of the historic speed of media failures.
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The report, for example, said that nearly 3,000 outlets have failed since 2005, leaving about 6,000 local media, mostly weeklies.
“The loss of local newspapers ticked higher in 2023 to an average of 2.5 per week, up from two per week last year. There were more than 130 confirmed newspaper closings or mergers this past year,” the industry magazine Editor & Publisher said.
“The country has lost almost two-thirds of its newspaper journalists, or 43,000, during that same time. Most of those journalists were employed by large metro and regional newspapers,” Editor & Publisher added.
