A 10-point plan for the government to shore up local newspapers (From The Seattle Times' publisher)

When regular features on your website are new houses available - and it isn't under "advertising" - its hard to imagine there being a wall still.

 

You must be looking at the website of a Hagadone Newspaper

Seriously, I've worked at a half-dozen different "locally owned" newspapers in my career, and the Hagadone papers were the worst for A1 stories featuring either advertisers or the Hagadone family's own business ventures. Even working on the copy desk, you felt like you needed a shower after your shift.

 

Free enterprise doesn't necessarily equal free speech.

Again:

https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2018/august/the-inadequacy-of-american-press-freedom/

Over the course of the twentieth century, Americans provided the press unprecedented freedom to publish what it wanted, but did not build equally robust protections for the public’s right to access information. Today, Americans are once again beginning to realize that freedom of the press alone cannot produce a democratic media. The task now is to protect and revitalize the public’s ability to access high-quality information, what Walter Lippmann once called the “stream of news.”

 

The barriers to entry for people who wish to become news-providers have never been lower in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

This is dead-tree newspaper protectionism, nothing more.

 

I do wonder if there is an argument to be made that Freedom of the Press should preclude news organizations from govermment assistance. Similar to freedom of religion - there should be no involvement period.

 

What's the business model for small market newsgathering?

 

1. Create a product that people wish to pay for, or that advertisers would like to sponsor.
2. Live happily ever after.

 

It's a business. The 'freedom of the press' is no guarantee that the business in any way should survive.

The Supreme Court has ruled that freedom of the press protections are technical, not professional.

 

What Coco said. The people decided this long ago and there’s no turning back. It’s sad, but it’s the truth.

 

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10. $ jackpot $

 

I get most of my local news from NextDoor.

 

I get a lot of "this dog is missing" and "this dog was seen" on NextDoor.