Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Should Google or Your Taxes Help Pay for Local News?
Joe-Mathews
By Joe Mathews
Published 6 years ago on
March 1, 2019

Share

Whose job it is to revive local journalism in California? Our state’s elites have a clear, if dubious answer: themselves.

Opinion

Joe Mathews

Philanthropists and foundations have invested in news nonprofits, like the Voice of San Diego. And billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is re-investing in the L.A. Times.

Last year, Google announced it was putting $300 million into supporting local news. A few weeks ago, Facebook announced its own $300 million local news initiative. Philanthropists and foundations have invested in news nonprofits, like the Voice of San Diego. And billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is re-investing in the L.A. Times.

Local news operations have been shrinking for years, so this is mostly good news. But philanthropic grants are temporary, and tech companies abandon strategies in the flash of an electron. So the long-term solution to funding local news lies not with the rich, with California’s local communities themselves.

And the most sustainable way to restore local media is to have local taxpayers to foot the bill.

Let me pause while you lose your mind.

I know you think this is a socialist plot, or at least a conflict of interest. But it’s not even a new idea. Other countries supported vital coverage with tax dollars, and America’s local newspapers have long been subsidized by government notices and by advertising from local businesses whose owners double as public officials.

Local Coverage Is as Essential as Other Public Services

Another reason for taxpayer-funded local media is simple politics. Local governments— and especially the people who work in them, as well as their critics—are the strongest potential supporters for any effort to revive local media.

As I travel this state of 500 cities and thousands more local governments, people complain constantly that they no longer have media that explain what local communities need. Studies show this lack of media coverage results in lower voter turnout, and more problematic local government finances.

Local coverage is as essential as any other public service that local governments provide. Local journalists hold wrongdoers accountable, as police do; respond in emergencies, like the fire department; and provide knowledge as certainly as the library does.

Since the free market won’t provide sufficient local media services, especially in small towns, it’s necessary for local governments step in and do so.

But how? Local governments should establish separate local media bureaus as nonprofit or quasi-governmental entities, with rules requiring independent decision-making, as they might do to manage a civic auditorium or pursue a special project.

The best way to fund such entities would be with a dedicated fee on all households (a media funding structure used in some countries), with a state match to boost coverage in smaller communities.

Taxes would ensure accountability. When local people know they themselves are paying for the local media, they are more likely to read it, and complain about it if it’s not really serving them. This struggle should make the local news livelier, more grounded in community and more interesting, because it will be fought over. That’s a very different vision than the elite attitude that news is like fiber, something that is good for you and must be provided from on high by credentialed people.

Facebook Says It Wants to Support Local Journalists and Newsrooms

Today’s philanthropic and technological plans to fund local media are similarly high-minded, and so they lack the connection to local communities and accountability that tax-supported local media might offer. Take Google and its $300 million local news initiative, which is focused not on the community level but rather on working with existing media and universities to advance technologies and new media models. In effect, the company is leading a search for innovations that advance the media business rather than meeting the needs of specific communities.

The fundamental principle is this: If there is going to be a real and sustained revival of local journalism, the journalists will need to work for the locals.

For its part, Facebook says it wants to support local journalists and newsrooms, but it is sending that money through national funds and non-profits, with the hope that the money will trickle down to the locals.

It’s also hard to trust Facebook’s word when it comes to media, given how it jerked the chains of publishers by promoting an expensive shift to video, then retreating from it. And since Google and Facebook took so much of the ad money that once supported local news, it’s hard to see them as the charitable saviors of local news they claim to be.

Philanthropic and corporate donations could still be useful if they were directed at the sort of publicly funded news operations that I’m suggesting. But, in such a system, those local journalists would not be begging for grants from philanthropic programs or rich people. Instead, the locals, with their base-funding in place from taxpayers, could resist donors with agendas.

The fundamental principle is this: If there is going to be a real and sustained revival of local journalism, the journalists will need to work for the locals.

About the Author

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

[activecampaign form=19]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Investors React to US Attack on Iran Nuclear Sites

DON'T MISS

Tulare County’s Colvin Fire Ignites With 80 Personnel on Scene

DON'T MISS

US B-2 Bombers Involved in Iran Strikes, U.S. Official Says

DON'T MISS

Trump Says US Forces Bombed Iran Nuclear Sites, Says ‘Fordow Is Gone’

DON'T MISS

LA Dodgers Pledge $1 Million to Support Families Impacted by ICE Raids

DON'T MISS

Pakistan to Nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

DON'T MISS

Vance, in Los Angeles, Says Troops Need to Stay, Blasts Newsom Over Immigration

DON'T MISS

Nuclear Diplomacy Stuck, Israel Says It Killed Top Iran Commander

DON'T MISS

Mahmoud Khalil Vows to Resume Pro-Palestinian Activism After Release From US Jail

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He Wants to Fund More Trade Schools. Just Not These.

UP NEXT

California Politicians Agree on School Money, but Poor Test Scores Need Attention

UP NEXT

Sen. Alex Padilla: This Is How an Administration Acts When It’s Afraid

UP NEXT

Bay Area Transit Systems Want More Money. But Their Payrolls Soared as Ridership Declined

UP NEXT

History Suggests the GOP Will Pay a Political Price for Its Immigration Tactics in California

UP NEXT

Only Nonviolence Will Beat Trump

UP NEXT

Gavin Newsom Finally Admits He’s Contemplating a Run for President

UP NEXT

Israel’s War of Choice With Iran Puts Trump in a Bind

UP NEXT

Millions of Americans Like Trump Better in Theory Than in Practice

UP NEXT

Newsom Wanted To Fast-Track the Delta Tunnel Project. The Legislature Slowed the Flow

UP NEXT

Israel Had the Courage to Do What Needed to Be Done

Trump Says US Forces Bombed Iran Nuclear Sites, Says ‘Fordow Is Gone’

1 hour ago

LA Dodgers Pledge $1 Million to Support Families Impacted by ICE Raids

6 hours ago

Pakistan to Nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

6 hours ago

Vance, in Los Angeles, Says Troops Need to Stay, Blasts Newsom Over Immigration

6 hours ago

Nuclear Diplomacy Stuck, Israel Says It Killed Top Iran Commander

6 hours ago

Mahmoud Khalil Vows to Resume Pro-Palestinian Activism After Release From US Jail

6 hours ago

Trump Says He Wants to Fund More Trade Schools. Just Not These.

6 hours ago

Two Days of Terror: How the Minnesota Shooter Evaded Police and Got Caught

6 hours ago

B-2 Bombers Moving to Guam Amid Middle East Tensions, US Officials Say

6 hours ago

Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

7 hours ago

Investors React to US Attack on Iran Nuclear Sites

President Donald Trump on Saturday said that a “very successful attack” on three nuclear sites in Iran had been carried out. In ...

33 minutes ago

President Donald Trump gestures next to a new flagpole with the U.S. flag after disembarking Marine One upon arrival at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 21, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Mohatt)
33 minutes ago

Investors React to US Attack on Iran Nuclear Sites

A wildfire dubbed the Colvin Fire broke out Saturday near Woodlake in Tulare County, burning 46 acres with 0% containment and threatening two structures, according to CalFire. (CalFire)
37 minutes ago

Tulare County’s Colvin Fire Ignites With 80 Personnel on Scene

1 hour ago

US B-2 Bombers Involved in Iran Strikes, U.S. Official Says

A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber takes off at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, April 30, 2025. U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Joshua Hastings/Handout via REUTERS
1 hour ago

Trump Says US Forces Bombed Iran Nuclear Sites, Says ‘Fordow Is Gone’

Oct 24, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the centerfield plaza during media prior to game one of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images/File Photo
6 hours ago

LA Dodgers Pledge $1 Million to Support Families Impacted by ICE Raids

President Donald Trump talks to reporters upon his arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S., June 20, 2025. (Reuters File)
6 hours ago

Pakistan to Nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. Vice President JD Vance greets U.S. Marines at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 20, 2025. (Reuters/Daniel Cole)
6 hours ago

Vance, in Los Angeles, Says Troops Need to Stay, Blasts Newsom Over Immigration

A fragment falls through the sky after Israel's Iron Dome intercepted a missile launched from Iran towards Israel, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
6 hours ago

Nuclear Diplomacy Stuck, Israel Says It Killed Top Iran Commander

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend