Sometimes when I am trying to get to sleep, I think of a really great idea. When I get up in the morning the “great” idea I had the previous night turns out to be a really dumb idea. I think this applies to the “Local Journalism Sustainability Act” you are trying to sell. Early in your article you state “there is ample evidence that INDEPENDENT news is critical to democracy”. You cannot be independent and be dependent on the government for your financial well being. In addition, if the government were to use our tax money to support local newspapers, I believe that several new newspapers would spring up in the area just to live off the government.
In recent years journalism has become a joke. The old concept that” journalism is to inform” has changed to” journalism is to persuade”. The bias in reporting and in story selection is so bad that you, as an industry, have turned off most of your readers. You no longer produce a product that most folks trust nor look forward to reading. The only folks you have left are those that have your same bias. This is a very poor business model and your industry is learning this the hard way.
The solution is not to have the taxpayers support you. It is for you, as an industry, to produce a product that attracts readers. Try hiring folks that have beliefs that are different from yours. Look at each story you publish, and don’t publish, carefully to assure the bias is balanced and the facts are really FACTS. Assume your readers, the few you have left, have a brain. Provide them with as much information as you can about what is going on.
