Why Journalism Urgently Needs A Domestic Marshall Plan – And Democracy Demands It
View(s):This week a commission of prominent experts sounded an alarm about the precarious state of the news media in the U.S. and the resultant danger to our democracy. They rightly emphasized that trust in the news media is at an all-time low and that a changing business environment has left local newspapers in dire straits. In response, they are proposing a series of practical recommendations aimed at strengthening traditional media companies and urging new digital platforms to accept significantly greater responsibility for their business conduct.
These recommendations come from the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy, a group of 27 leaders from journalism, the tech sector, academia, and civil society. The Commission’s report was produced by the Aspen Institute, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It responds to the concern that “Americans have lost faith in the institutions that underpin our democracy.”
At the heart of the crisis the Commission seeks to tackle are the declining fortunes of traditional newspaper companies, especially those in smaller markets. The report states that “more than 25,000 fewer journalists are working today in communities across the country than in 2007, even considering employment growth from digital news outlets.” The result, the report concludes, is a “decline in regional and statehouse coverage and of costlier investigative and specialty journalism.” If anything, this vastly understates the severity of the problem. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2001 to 2016, the number of people employed by the newspaper industry went from 412,000 to 175, 000—a drop of almost 60%. Newsroom employees declined from 71,000 in 2008 to 39,000 in 2017, a drop of 45%.
The Commission concludes that “new business models are needed to ensure the survival of quality journalism.” Indeed, the business model that supported newspapers is no longer viable, as advertising dollars have moved online, with online ad revenue now totaling more than $111 billion annually. The lion’s share of this income is going to Google and Facebook, companies that have come to dominate the online ad market. And while, as the report notes, ”43 percent of Americans say that ‘they often get news online’” Google and Facebook aren’t paying journalists to produce this news.
The current struggles at Gannett Co.,Inc. clearly illustrate the problem. The nation’s largest newspaper chain, with more than 100 daily papers and 1,000 weeklies, Gannett is sinking because it has been deprived of the local advertising dollars that once kept it afloat. It is desperately trying to fend off a hostile hedge fund-backed takeover by a firm with a well deserved reputation for gutting the newsrooms it acquires. While the largest, most successful national papers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post are moving to a subscription business model with an emphasis on digital growth, few of Gannett’s local papers could survive if they relied on that approach.
While the Commission’s report diagnoses this problem well, its recommendations do not go far enough. It suggests that “philanthropy in particular must play a more significant role in advancing the future practice of journalism.” But the example it cites, the American Journalism Project, cannot by itself shoulder this responsibility. The AJP, which is funded in part by the Knight Foundation, seeks to raise $50 million initially to make “transformational investments” especially to maintain local news coverage. Efforts like this are commendable but insufficient.
What is needed is a domestic Marshall Plan for journalism, in which substantial new resources are invested to save traditional newspapers and journalism. This would need to be a bold major initiative on a scale resembling the plan to rebuild post World War II European economies. The acquisition of the Washington Post by Jeff Bezos provides one useful template. Another model is the recent three-year $300 million contribution from Facebook to support local media. But investments like these need to be strategically coordinated, not episodic. To address the core challenge posed by the Knight Commission report, Bezos and the other top 25 billionaires in our country, along with the largest media and tech firms, need to come together and make a common pledge to provide whatever resources are needed, especially to save local journalism.
The Knight Commission’s report is urgent and timely, and the challenges it presents require immediate attention. We are living in a time of great technological upheaval, one that presents huge challenges but also real opportunities. In the years after Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, his contemporaries struggled to adapt to this new technology. Alberto Ibarguen, the president of the Knight Foundation, observes that today we are living in another “Gutenberg moment.” He concludes hopefully that “because we’re just at the beginning of the tech revolution, it’s not too late.” But as he also makes clear, we must exercise our collective will to “shape the future we want.” The adoption of a domestic Marshall Plan to preserve local news would be a momentous act, one that would truly shape the future of our democracy.
- Michael. P