Local News & Information

A working-class-focused media could be supported by the dozens of media-oriented philanthropies and local news initiatives funded by taxpayers, like the recent ones in New Jersey and California, as well as independent media cooperatives—people pooling resources to create real alternatives to corporate media. As Pickard has written, public funding... See more

Ken Doctor’s media brand Lookout in Santa Cruz and Eugene, Oregon uses AI to automate the assembly of hyperlocal neighborhood newsletters from public data sources like permits, roadwork, inspections, crime reports, weather, and events. But Lookout is more than a local news outlet. It is a platform for solving local problems together with the... See more

While Americans in polls report historically low levels of trust in the media, it could be in large part because much of the press hasn’t been speaking to the concerns of their everyday lives. It would mean incorporating the knowledge and skills of reporters like Heather Bryant, who grew up in rural Missouri, where her lower-income family would buy... See more

James Madison — a.k.a. Guy Who Wrote the First Amendment — argued that newspapers should have a massive subsidy from the federal government to encourage the distribution of newspapers. The “postal subsidy,” which provided discounted mail, would be about $46 billion in today’s dollars — bigger than the NASA budget.

People will pay for the convenience of not poring through internet sludge all day and having someone clarify what they need to know.”