Media policy: Local news for the people

This piece is part of our Civic Media Series. Read the Civic Media Magazine and explore pieces from the series here.

The market collapse of newspapers has hastened a growing crisis in which giant corporations and hedge funds dominate our ailing channels of news and civic information. The endless profit-chasing and consolidation at the heart of our commercial media system has led to massive layoffs of journalists performing a key public service — and to a steady rise in sensationalist content. All of this is happening against a political backdrop in which journalists and community members alike are endangered by severe cuts to federal assistance, escalating threats to free speech and press freedom, and growing instability within our highest national institutions. 

This moment calls for a transformed media system, one backed by robust public funding with sturdy firewalls in place to preserve editorial independence. It calls for a media system in which the needs of the working and middle classes are valued over corporate profits and the interests of billionaires. As lawmakers at the state and local levels increasingly turn their attention to the decline of local news and its impacts on our democracy, the policy options outlined here can serve as a strong roadmap for action. 

This list was created by the Media Power Collaborative, an organizing space for media workers, movement organizers, and allied researchers, to build a shared vision for the future of our local media system and to make change in their communities. The Media Power Collaborative is coordinated by Free Press and Free Press Action, and was launched in 2022 as a working group of News Futures, the group that commissioned and co-edited this magazine.

Prioritize community information needs

Establish public grantmaking bodies to support civic information needs.

One impactful approach is for policymakers to create independent grantmaking bodies to support local news and civic information, establishing reliable funding streams to support these efforts. Direct public funds can provide the flexibility to account for community differences, be utilized for the most valuable kinds of public-interest journalism, encourage philanthropic giving, and maintain essential firewalls between the government and media outlets.

Lawmakers should prioritize support for community-rooted publishers, independent newsrooms, nonprofits, and ethnic media outlets —  the parts of our media system most engaged with their communities, most adept at providing public-service journalism, and least resourced compared to their large commercial counterparts. 

Strong firewalls between the government and media outlets are a necessity. Public funds should be administered by a nongovernmental independent body overseen by a diverse, multi-stakeholder, nonpartisan board. Neither political appointees nor media owners should make up a majority of this board. Any public funding legislation should explicitly prohibit government officials from interfering with editorial choices. And ideally, a dedicated revenue source (like a tax on the advertising revenues of corporate and tech giants) should support public funding mechanisms so they aren’t subject to undue pressure in the annual appropriations process. 

Examples: In 2018, New Jersey lawmakers established the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium — an independent nonprofit supported by public funding that provides grant support to initiatives plugging key public information gaps.Lawmakers in Oregon are currently weighing legislation to create a Civic Information Consortium. In California, a state library program awards grants to ethnic media outlets and collaboratives serving communities vulnerable to identity-based violence.

Invest in community-first models to democratize media power 

Enact public subsidies to support community-rooted journalism.

While public grantmaking is the most direct option in supporting community information needs, lawmakers can implement other forms of public subsidies — like employment-based tax credits or news vouchers — for people to donate or subscribe to local news outlets as we build toward a more diversified and sustainable media system. These subsidies should prioritize noncommercial local media outlets, because this sector is plugging critical information gaps left by ailing commercial models, and its long-term growth and sustainability will be fundamental to a future media landscape. 

If public subsidies are provided to commercial outlets, they should be tied to community-positive factors, such as commitments to union neutrality and an emphasis on serving unmet information needs. Independent media, locally rooted outlets, small publishers, and BIPOC-owned publications have a strong track record of filling these information gaps. Public policies should prioritize these types of outlets, which are doing community-rooted reporting often with fewer resources than their mainstream counterparts. 

Incentivize local ownership and local investments in for-profit media organizations that serve community information needs. 

Corporate chains and hedge funds are swooping into towns and cities across the country, snapping up publications from struggling local owners, which often leads to swift cuts in staffing and coverage. 

Rebuild Local News has proposed enacting “replanting” policies to slow this troubling trend. Such policies would incentivize chains and hedge funds to sell news outlets to local owners. There are also increasing opportunities for local owners to sell their publications to nonprofit trusts instead of corporate owners.

Lawmakers can also incentivize newsroom owners to transition their papers from for-profit to nonprofit status, allowing community members, local institutions, and even respective publications’ workers themselves to purchase outlets that are for sale.

Break up the stranglehold that corporate media chains and Big Tech platforms have over the information landscape. 

For decades, advertising was the primary revenue source for news outlets. Today, however, most people access news through platforms owned by tech giants like Meta, TikTok, and Google, which dominate the advertising market without creating any original news content. Other massive corporate entities, like Amazon, Comcast, and Walt Disney, rake in billions in ad revenue while relentlessly consolidating our media and telecommunication systems. Lawmakers should place a small tax on the ad revenues of corporate giants and establish an independent body to distribute the proceeds to community-centered news outlets and civic information initiatives.

Examples: New Mexico lawmakers weighed a tax credit bill this year that would subsidize employment costs for local news outlets; crucially, it would include nonprofits and exclude corporate broadcasters. A bill passed in Illinois in 2024 requires local news organizations to provide written notice 120 days before a sale occurs to an out-of-state company.

Leverage public and popular Education to support civic information and local news

Promote media literacy across all ages and demographics.  

High schools, community colleges, tribal colleges, and public universities should make digital media literacy a core graduation requirement. Policymakers should provide the funding necessary to build out the necessary materials and curricula. Funding can be set aside for public libraries to develop locally rooted programming and resources centered on improving digital media literacy.  

Establish vocational and scholarship programs to support and expand the base of community-focused journalists.

Policymakers should create state-funded local news fellowships in which journalists are paid fairly, placed in communities underserved by existing media, and supported in building long-term ties to both their newsrooms and their communities. Like in California, New Mexico, and Washington, these programs can be housed within a state university system or, alternatively, within local anchor institutions such as community media centers. Policymakers should also explore funding “beat” fellowships for mid-career journalists. In this model, experienced journalists would cover areas of critical public interest with financial and resource support from public universities. In exchange, fellows would provide student journalists with hands-on learning opportunities.

Example: Lawmakers in California, New Mexico, and Washington have provided public funding for fellowship programs placing journalists in newsrooms across the state, with an emphasis on increasing staffing in underserved communities.

Ensure a just transition for media workers and protect workers’ rights

Protect media workers’ ability to organize and build power. 

Unions are leading the fight for a living wage, access to critical benefits, and dignity in the journalism industry. Lawmakers must protect the ability of all media workers to form unions. Public funding should be prioritized for newsrooms where collective bargaining agreements are not expired, and should not go toward newsrooms that refuse to voluntarily recognize a union. 

Lawmakers should also encourage the establishment and expansion of worker- and community-owned media cooperatives by providing access to low-interest loans and not prohibiting public funding for newly established newsrooms.

Protect the rights of all media workers, regardless of their employment status, immigration status, or identity.

Policymakers should enact strong anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) statutes at the state and federal levels. These statutes can protect journalists — particularly freelancers and those who work with smaller outlets — from costly lawsuits aimed at chilling investigations and other First Amendment-protected speech. Journalistic work and journalists’ sources should also be protected from undue government interference, and these work protections should be codified for full-time and freelance media workers alike. Policymakers should also strengthen First & Fourth Amendment protections that prohibit law enforcement officers from interfering with the news-gathering process or spying on reporters to uncover protected sources, such as the previously proposed bipartisan PRESS Act establishing a national shield law.

Drawing on legislation like the federal Journalist Protection Act, which would make intentionally harming or intimidating a working journalist a federal crime, policymakers should protect journalists from retaliation, harm, and harassment. Special consideration should be given to journalists working in the United States with a visa or another form of temporary status, who are guaranteed the same protections as all other media workers. 

Ensure freelance media workers have access to critical resources and assistance.

Freelancers play a vital and growing role in our local media landscape. Yet, too often, they find themselves without access to basic necessities like affordable health care. One way lawmakers can address this is by providing state support to a pooled health insurance fund available to freelancers and independent contractors. Another pathway is expanding access to Affordable Care Act exchanges, as well as state and federal subsidies. These policies could support all contract workers, who are a growing part of our economy. 

Policymakers should also explore legislation like New York City’s Freelance Isn’t Free law to support and protect freelancers. These measures can include state support for legal assistance, payment-agreement protections, and mandatory contracts, among other provisions.

Examples: In addition to the examples listed above, a growing number of states are adopting or advancing uniform anti-SLAPP legislation to protect journalists from unjust lawsuits aimed at chilling reporting. 

Address and repair the historic harms of our media system

Make robust investments to create a thriving BIPOC journalism ecosystem. 

Policies to support local news should include a reparative approach that invests resources at the scale needed to both repair and redress past harms, and prevent new ones. Case in point: People of color comprise over 41% of the U.S. population, yet just 9% of full-power commercial broadcast TV stations and only 10% of full-power commercial broadcast radio stations are owned by people of color. 

One immediate pathway is for local and state governments to dedicate a significant portion of their advertising budgets to BIPOC media outlets, providing a much-needed boost to the sector. In New York City, for instance, an executive order that requires government agencies to spend at least half of their advertising budget in ethnic and community-media outlets has created a critical and sustained source of funding, even as the city struggles to properly implement the program.

Examples: State policymakers in California and city leaders in Chicago have advanced measures that direct public agencies to spend a certain percentage of their advertising budget in local outlets serving BIPOC communities. 

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Mike Rispoli is a senior director at Free Press, a nonpartisan public interest organization created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media. Over the past decade in his role, he’s helped launch local news initiatives across several states, led the campaign to create the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, and co-authored “The Roadmap for Local News: An Emergent Approach to Meeting Civic Information Needs.”

This piece was edited by Bettina Chang. Copy edits by James Salanga. Fact-checking by Bashirah Mack.