This is a really timely and important work, Matt. I was initially very saddened to read you were leaving the LAT. You have been one of their top talents during your entire tenure there, and the quality of the paper will very likely continue to decline without you. But based on this essay and the important perspective you bring to the industry, perhaps your talents have not been fully realized in that role. As someone who volunteers as a board member of a small nonprofit publication here in Long Beach, I'm encouraged by the energy you bring to these ideas and these critically important policy discussions. I continue to admire your work and what you offer to the vocation of journalist.
That's so kind of you, Andy (and also thank you for donating your time to journalism!). It was really my work through the Guild that tutored me on the problems we face together. Even darks as times are, I know we can all make progress if we're smart.
It’s a tricky one. Based on what you are saying, I wonder if it could be framed as a public watchdog over government spending, like the GAO but with a reporting twist? And tied to how much the local government spends? In my little 30k Village a few residents recently started an online paper - the impact has been incredible.
I’m always intrigued by the idea of a watchdog role, which some government entities already do in the form of public grand jury reports or inspectors general (or civilian oversight boards). Though those entities sometimes don’t do the ensuing agitation often necessary to build public pressure to complete reforms instead of merely spreading awareness of the problems. I’d need to do more research, but I suspect that sort of especially pointed investigative or accountability work tends to happen more often in private media than public media.
ProPublica is a non profit but could be a model for this. Its mission to expose abuses of power in government and other institutions could appeal to libertarians and, well, everyone. The interesting question is would voters opt to fund something like this at local levels if framed correctly and perhaps using something like a financial “tax” on government spending. Just spit balling, but for instance 1 percent of government spending goes automatically into the propublica fund. So the more government spends, the more oversight it gets.
Suppose a startup came to you with a really big idea that could solve this problem comprehensively and sustainably that none of the usual suspects have thought of before. Suppose further to get it off the ground they needed people like you and the other good local news journalists involved in the development of the business to make sure the reporting is as good as it can be. How would you suggest they find and connect with such folks? What could and would you do to help?
I am curious why you believe a public option is a non starter? I can see at the federal level but wouldn’t it make sense to get a proposal on the ballot for a public watch dog at the county or state level the way marijuana advocates did it?
It would certainly be more feasible at the state or local level, and L.A. even once had its own public newspaper in the early 20th century. But you’d have to jump over multiple hurdles to get there — the trend these days is toward providing grant funding or other public-private partnership concepts where the government itself is on the hook for governance in some way (so you have to first get past people’s libertarian instincts to keep government out of journalism). Also a truly public option would probably consist of a lot of down-the-middle coverage, and right now a lot of people on both wings hate down-the-middle coverage. Plus it’s expensive and would be competing with every other public service in the budget that a state or local government provide. Not impossible! Just probably incredibly hard.
While I am not convinced there needs to be tax policy changes to help journalism survive, I do think they need help in dealing with the tech giants. And in the case of Newhouse/Advance, they need better self-reflection on their dismal online presence and technology. Thanks for your post.
One reason (among several) why I think tax policy needs to be part of the picture is that platform bargaining policies, some benevolent fidgeting notwithstanding, will inevitably most significantly benefit the larger publications with the biggest presences on those platforms, which is a competitive advantage that smaller publications might not get.
This is a really timely and important work, Matt. I was initially very saddened to read you were leaving the LAT. You have been one of their top talents during your entire tenure there, and the quality of the paper will very likely continue to decline without you. But based on this essay and the important perspective you bring to the industry, perhaps your talents have not been fully realized in that role. As someone who volunteers as a board member of a small nonprofit publication here in Long Beach, I'm encouraged by the energy you bring to these ideas and these critically important policy discussions. I continue to admire your work and what you offer to the vocation of journalist.
That's so kind of you, Andy (and also thank you for donating your time to journalism!). It was really my work through the Guild that tutored me on the problems we face together. Even darks as times are, I know we can all make progress if we're smart.
Great piece, Matt
It’s a tricky one. Based on what you are saying, I wonder if it could be framed as a public watchdog over government spending, like the GAO but with a reporting twist? And tied to how much the local government spends? In my little 30k Village a few residents recently started an online paper - the impact has been incredible.
I’m always intrigued by the idea of a watchdog role, which some government entities already do in the form of public grand jury reports or inspectors general (or civilian oversight boards). Though those entities sometimes don’t do the ensuing agitation often necessary to build public pressure to complete reforms instead of merely spreading awareness of the problems. I’d need to do more research, but I suspect that sort of especially pointed investigative or accountability work tends to happen more often in private media than public media.
ProPublica is a non profit but could be a model for this. Its mission to expose abuses of power in government and other institutions could appeal to libertarians and, well, everyone. The interesting question is would voters opt to fund something like this at local levels if framed correctly and perhaps using something like a financial “tax” on government spending. Just spit balling, but for instance 1 percent of government spending goes automatically into the propublica fund. So the more government spends, the more oversight it gets.
Suppose a startup came to you with a really big idea that could solve this problem comprehensively and sustainably that none of the usual suspects have thought of before. Suppose further to get it off the ground they needed people like you and the other good local news journalists involved in the development of the business to make sure the reporting is as good as it can be. How would you suggest they find and connect with such folks? What could and would you do to help?
I am curious why you believe a public option is a non starter? I can see at the federal level but wouldn’t it make sense to get a proposal on the ballot for a public watch dog at the county or state level the way marijuana advocates did it?
It would certainly be more feasible at the state or local level, and L.A. even once had its own public newspaper in the early 20th century. But you’d have to jump over multiple hurdles to get there — the trend these days is toward providing grant funding or other public-private partnership concepts where the government itself is on the hook for governance in some way (so you have to first get past people’s libertarian instincts to keep government out of journalism). Also a truly public option would probably consist of a lot of down-the-middle coverage, and right now a lot of people on both wings hate down-the-middle coverage. Plus it’s expensive and would be competing with every other public service in the budget that a state or local government provide. Not impossible! Just probably incredibly hard.
While I am not convinced there needs to be tax policy changes to help journalism survive, I do think they need help in dealing with the tech giants. And in the case of Newhouse/Advance, they need better self-reflection on their dismal online presence and technology. Thanks for your post.
One reason (among several) why I think tax policy needs to be part of the picture is that platform bargaining policies, some benevolent fidgeting notwithstanding, will inevitably most significantly benefit the larger publications with the biggest presences on those platforms, which is a competitive advantage that smaller publications might not get.