Commentary: Combating disinformation requires investments in community media
Special to CalMatters
The U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6 revealed many gaping holes in the foundations of our democracy, including the role of digital media platforms in exacerbating and weaponizing disinformation.
Indeed, many of our societal ills the mainstreaming of white nationalism, losing parties attacking the legitimacy of certified elections, and a growing distrust of electoral and public health systems can be traced to systems of disinformation that have proliferated through digital technologies and social media.
As Congress begins its new term, there will be a strong push to regulate social media. Bipartisan concern over the concentration of informational power in companies like Facebook and Google have been brewing for some time, with a growing recognition that we cannot simply rely on digital media companies to regulate themselves. Indeed, Twitter’s recent decision to permanently suspe
How two nontraditional newsrooms in Vermont are winning readers
Could their examples hold the key to fixing âThe Expanding News Desertâ?
By Mark Shanahan Globe Staff,Updated December 28, 2020, 12:44 p.m.
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Anne Galloway wondered if her journalism career might be over.
It was January 2009 and the Sunday editor of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus was among 16 employees abruptly laid off when the newspaperâs owner slashed positions in a round of budget cuts.
âI knew I wanted to stay in journalism,â says Galloway. âBut there werenât many jobs in the offing.â
Or any. All over Vermont, the story was the same: Newspapers were downsizing as readers in ever greater numbers were getting their news for free on the Internet, and advertising revenue â which sustained print journalism for two centuries â had dwindled to a trickle during the recession between 2007 and 2009.
Local news orgs grasp the urgency of community roots
“‘Engagement’ will get the respect it deserves as the center of excellence within local media organizations, not an offshoot concept that is often disregarded and undervalued.”
Local media will recognize in 2021 that, in order to be trusted and sustainable, they will need to operationalize their whole organization around understanding who their local community is, and what news and information offerings that community wants and needs.
They’ll need to come up with creative strategies to deliver on those needs, fund them, and market the unique value proposition they have of serving a community, which will always include providing critical information and holding the powerful accountable.
The commercial era for local journalism is over
“The journalism crisis can’t be solved by individuals alone, whether average subscribers or rich benefactors. We’re facing a collective action problem that demands government intervention.”
Amid the wreckage of our local news media, this coming year will witness the early shoots of a new post-commercial journalism. Driving this transformation will be two trajectories of structural reform one salvaging what’s left of existing newsrooms, the other expanding public infrastructures to provide access to news and information for all Americans.
Signs of this shift are already afoot. Philanthropic initiatives such as the American Journalism Project and Report for America are putting more journalists on the beat. The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Salt Lake Tribune are proofs of concept that struggling newspapers can transition into public benefit and nonprofit institutions. And shining exemplars of nonprofit journalism, such as Th
American Journalism Project supports three news outlets - Medicine Hat NewsMedicine Hat News medicinehatnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicinehatnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.