Gift link to article:
https://wapo.st/49IrIIZ
@MAD_democracy @jeffjarvis Such as giant industrial agriculture companies setting up shop and systematically, polluting the water table with chemicals, which are resulting in catastrophic levels of miscarriages and birth defects.
Instead, they come into the council chambers, screaming about trans rights, banning books, and Joe Biden
#Journalism Is a Public Good and Should Be Publicly Funded
Prof. Patrick Walters in Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/journalism-is-a-public-good-and-should-be-publicly-funded/
@MAD_democracy @jeffjarvis Hm. Direct govt funding is a nasty trap; look at how Mexico, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, etc., struggle when the one big source of support yanks the $$.
It doesn't start out there. But it sure winds up with news orgs all vying to grovel to state agencies for the revenue stream.
I'd favor a BBC-type model, but Murdoch would shoot any legislator that proposed it (he's been fighting to kill the Beeb for decades)
There are lots of models that keep the government from being able to influence content.
Yes, Murdoch and such would oppose any good model (and try to create bad ones as they did in Australia) but if we believe that enough mobilization can overcome that -- particularly if built from the ground up.
Here's one example of how it could be done -- there are others.
https://democracypolicy.network/the-agenda/policy_kit/democracy-vouchers
I was taken aback by the $4 cover price of a weekday paper, but realized it's been a few years since I saw a local newspaper for sale anywhere in the United States.
It's a dead business.
Just me
Jeff Jarvis
The Media & Democracy Project
David LaFontaine
Randall Lee
Steve Yelvington
Mark Loundy