Steven Waldman, the president of Rebuild Local News, has grown used to talking about the threat that news deserts pose to American democracy. “After all, the whole concept of democratic self-government depends on the people knowing what public officials are up to,” he writes. “That’s impossible without a watchdog press.” “Researchers have linked the decline of local news to decreased voter participation and higher rates of corruption, along with increased polarization and more ideologically extreme elected officials. At this point, I can make high-minded speeches about this stuff in my sleep, with Thomas Jefferson quotes and everything. Recently, however, I’ve come to realize that I have been ignoring a less lofty but perhaps more persuasive argument: Funding local news would more than pay for itself.” He explains how: theatln.tc/AIdvX2sS
The Atlantic
Steven Waldman, the president of Rebuild Local News, has grown used to talking about the threat that news deserts pose to American democracy. “After all, the whole concept of democratic self-government depends on the people knowing what public officials are up to,” he writes. “That’s impossible without a watchdog press.”
“Researchers have linked the decline of local news to decreased voter participation and higher rates of corruption, along with increased polarization and more ideologically extreme elected officials. At this point, I can make high-minded speeches about this stuff in my sleep, with Thomas Jefferson quotes and everything. Recently, however, I’ve come to realize that I have been ignoring a less lofty but perhaps more persuasive argument: Funding local news would more than pay for itself.”
He explains how: theatln.tc/AIdvX2sS
🎨: Ben Kothe / The Atlantic / Getty
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