American journalism needs public support
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Leonard Downie
American journalism is at a transformational moment, in which an era of dominant newspapers is rapidly giving way to one in which the gathering and distribution of news is more widely dispersed. As is the case with regional newspapers in Britain, the economic foundations of many of the 1,400 local daily newspapers in the US, long supported by advertising, are collapsing. Their news staffs and printed editions, which have been the chief source of original news reporting - in print and online - are shrinking.
American newspapers are not going to vanish in the foreseeable future, despite frequent predictions of their imminent extinction. But they will play diminished roles in a rapidly changing world of digital journalism.
Journalists leaving newspapers have started online local news sites in many cities. Some are working with residents to produce neighbourhood news blogs. Others have started investigative reporting projects, many of which are based on university campuses. Still others have started national and international news organisations with relatively small staffs and freelance journalists to fill gaps left by local newspapers that have radically reduced or eliminated national and foreign correspondents.
They have been joined by well-informed independent bloggers who specialise in subjects they know well, including politics, foreign policy and education. Many of these blogs are becoming influential news sources, even hiring reporting staff.
Some university journalism schools run their own news organisations that report on surrounding communities for local websites and commercial news media. Even some American philanthropic foundations have begun to report on subjects of particular interest to them - journalism they supply to newspapers free of charge. The ranks of newsgatherers in the US now include newsroom staffers, university faculty and students, bloggers and citizens armed with smartphones.
Some of the startup news organisations are trying to become profitable, while many are operating as non-profits, financed by donations from philanthropists, foundations and readers, plus some corporate sponsorship and advertising. They could provide communities with diverse sources of news reporting. But most of the startups and their budgets are relatively small, and their finances are fragile.
American society must now take responsibility for supporting news reporting, especially local news - as it has, at much greater cost, for services such as education and healthcare. In a report on the American news media commissioned by the Columbia University School of Journalism, The Reconstruction of American Journalism, my co-author, Michael Schudson, and I suggest how to do this.
We urge foundations and universities to substantially increase support for non-profit news organisations, including those contributing journalism to newspapers and other commercial news media. We recommend that non-profit American public radio and television stations - which are supported by relatively small indirect government grants through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and much larger amounts in donations from philanthropists, corporations and listeners - greatly increase their meagre coverage of local news:
We have drawn the most controversy by proposing a national fund for local news with money the federal government collects from, or could impose on, American telecom users, broadcast licensees or internet service providers. Grants would be made competitively by independent local news fund councils to news organisations for innovations in reporting and ways to support it. This would represent somewhat unusual government involvement in news reporting in the US, with its First Amendment tradition of press freedom. But it is similar to the way that government, through independent bodies like the one we are proposing, helps the arts and scientific and medical research.
News reporting, especially the sort that holds accountable those with power and influence throughout the nation, has been a vital part of American democratic life. It may not be essential to save any particular news medium, including printed newspapers. What is paramount is preserving independent, credible news reporting.
FT Syndication Service
American journalism is at a transformational moment, in which an era of dominant newspapers is rapidly giving way to one in which the gathering and distribution of news is more widely dispersed. As is the case with regional newspapers in Britain, the economic foundations of many of the 1,400 local daily newspapers in the US, long supported by advertising, are collapsing. Their news staffs and printed editions, which have been the chief source of original news reporting - in print and online - are shrinking.
American newspapers are not going to vanish in the foreseeable future, despite frequent predictions of their imminent extinction. But they will play diminished roles in a rapidly changing world of digital journalism.
Journalists leaving newspapers have started online local news sites in many cities. Some are working with residents to produce neighbourhood news blogs. Others have started investigative reporting projects, many of which are based on university campuses. Still others have started national and international news organisations with relatively small staffs and freelance journalists to fill gaps left by local newspapers that have radically reduced or eliminated national and foreign correspondents.
They have been joined by well-informed independent bloggers who specialise in subjects they know well, including politics, foreign policy and education. Many of these blogs are becoming influential news sources, even hiring reporting staff.
Some university journalism schools run their own news organisations that report on surrounding communities for local websites and commercial news media. Even some American philanthropic foundations have begun to report on subjects of particular interest to them - journalism they supply to newspapers free of charge. The ranks of newsgatherers in the US now include newsroom staffers, university faculty and students, bloggers and citizens armed with smartphones.
Some of the startup news organisations are trying to become profitable, while many are operating as non-profits, financed by donations from philanthropists, foundations and readers, plus some corporate sponsorship and advertising. They could provide communities with diverse sources of news reporting. But most of the startups and their budgets are relatively small, and their finances are fragile.
American society must now take responsibility for supporting news reporting, especially local news - as it has, at much greater cost, for services such as education and healthcare. In a report on the American news media commissioned by the Columbia University School of Journalism, The Reconstruction of American Journalism, my co-author, Michael Schudson, and I suggest how to do this.
We urge foundations and universities to substantially increase support for non-profit news organisations, including those contributing journalism to newspapers and other commercial news media. We recommend that non-profit American public radio and television stations - which are supported by relatively small indirect government grants through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and much larger amounts in donations from philanthropists, corporations and listeners - greatly increase their meagre coverage of local news:
We have drawn the most controversy by proposing a national fund for local news with money the federal government collects from, or could impose on, American telecom users, broadcast licensees or internet service providers. Grants would be made competitively by independent local news fund councils to news organisations for innovations in reporting and ways to support it. This would represent somewhat unusual government involvement in news reporting in the US, with its First Amendment tradition of press freedom. But it is similar to the way that government, through independent bodies like the one we are proposing, helps the arts and scientific and medical research.
News reporting, especially the sort that holds accountable those with power and influence throughout the nation, has been a vital part of American democratic life. It may not be essential to save any particular news medium, including printed newspapers. What is paramount is preserving independent, credible news reporting.
FT Syndication Service