We need a news utility
Lucia Walinchus,
Poynter,
Jun 17, 2022
There are some good points in this article. Lucia Walinchus argues convincingly that dependence on advertising has distorted and undermined the value of journalism, and that philanthropy raises only a fraction of the money that is needed, and so argues that there should be a tax on internet advertising to pay for public interest journalism. To me it doesn't matter where the money comes from (and it's probably better that it not depend on one questionable source). The idea of publicly funded journalism is a good one (we have it in Canada with the CBC and subsidies for other media), and for many of the same reasons a publicly funded education system is also a good one. The problem, though, is that there is a potential conflict of interests, where governments want to manipulate journalism (and education!) to keep their own parties in power. But I will say that there is a much greater potential for conflict of interest in advertiser-supported journalism, and we're seeing the ill effects of that conflict of interest today (where, for example, a foreign power can purchase influence and sow social discontent). This should serve as a warning to those questioning the value (and need) for publicly funded education.
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