To say the least, the journalism sector has had a terrible time over the years. Newspaper headlines have captured the present situation of the sector as several media outlets have begun to circle. According to Business Insider, 2009 was "the year the newspaper died," as the New Yorker said that journalism freedom was "falling out of print" (Gamse 2011, p. 333). The industry's condition has received a lot of attention, and practically everyone is aware that advertisements and newspapers are literally collapsing. This trend is alarming since thousands of people are losing employment opportunities while tit has an impact on the American democracy. The government has a key role in ensuring that the policy interest journalist is protected, illustrating that the relationship between the two institutions has a clear purpose and precedent. As such, the state provision has a great impact on the future of the public interest journalism.
The public interest journalism is an important institution as it addresses various issues affecting the society. According to the Ethical Journalism Network, "the concept involves the coverage of important matters in the society for the common good, the general welfare, and the security of wellbeing of everyone in the community" (Fancher and Firestone 2010, p. 3). One of the fundamental reasons why the society values journalism is the fact that it acts as a government watchdog in the political atmosphere. As stated by Blasi, an active press helps in alerting the public about the government's wrongdoing such as transgressions. An independent press is able to expose government officials who are abusing their power to benefit themselves or worsen the lives of the citizens (Fancher and Firestone 2010, p. 6). Although newspapers and television presses are traditionally known to keep the government in check, the industry also performs similar function against private institutions by exposing behaviors that have not been deterred from wrongdoing.
The public interest journalism also has a role in political participation. Apart from acting as a watchdog to the state, the press also facilitates information dissemination that is predicate to a complete democracy (McNair 2012, p. 45). Newspapers and television news can provide the public with information they need to participate in the government by communicating with their official representatives or through voting (Gamse 2011, p. 337). The press also minimizes costs of public participation; if journalists fail to observe and report on the government, the citizens will be forced to pay monitoring costs in order to remain civically engaged. By spreading and lowering such costs, the media is able to democratize the access of politics (Fancher and Firestone 2010, p. 5). In addition, research shows that newspaper readership is linked directly to civic engagement. Although it seems to be difficult, researchers have found a correlation between media viewing and readership and political efficacy, interest in political participation, and voting.
Considering various challenges that affect the journalism industry, the Congress has contemplated to improve the situation. The Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet as well as the Joint Economic Committee have held several hearings over the years to address the future of newspapers and journalism. The Newspaper Revitalization Act of 2009 had been proposed by Caroyln Maloney to assist magazines to easily convert to nonprofit status (Gamse 2011, p. 339). Various other policy proposals have been made through press, white papers, periodicals, law review articles, and books. The state could provide various legislations to enhance the functionality and freedom of public interest journalism in the future. These can be done through the expansion of copyright laws, extension of direct spending, and extension of subsidies on the industry actors.
Expansion of copyright laws
One idea that has attracted attention of legal practitioners is the need for the state government to extend the intellectual property rights of media houses and newspapers. Although this proposal has been discussed in different forms by various scholars, it has been majorly advanced by Daniel and David Marburger (Gamse 2011, p. 340). They argue that media such as magazines and newspapers lack the capability of combating the growing number of internet sites posting their content with original commentary. These sites are referred to as "parasitic aggregators" due to the fact that they are able to siphon revenue from the hardcopy news press by free-riding on original content (Barnett 2009, p. 4). While it might be plausible that journalists have copyright recourse, they may not be able to protect the content. The 1976 Copyright Act only protects an original expression of information, but fails to recognize the facts or ideas themselves (Gamse 2011, p. 343). The Supreme Court has always held that derivative users are permitted to copy facts as long as they do not infringe the copyrights. Furthermore, the Copyright Act allows explicitly the use of copyrighted materials for "news reporting." This, thus, means that the legislation does not protect journalists against parasitic aggregators on the original journalism.
In order to protect public interest journalism, there is need to the misappropriation law. Marburgers support this law upon the Supreme Court case of International News Service v. Associated Press. In the case, the International New Service (INS) reporters took stories of their competitor, Associated Press (AP), and rewrote them to sell for their subscribers. The Court held that INS had infringed the quasi-property rights of the AP (Gamse 2011, p. 345). It was affirmed that AP ought to have monopoly over its news until its commercial value is exhausted. Although it is not evident that the misappropriation law is still valid, there is need for the state government to offer such provisions to protect the rights of the journalists. This type of law ensures that such change can force parasitic aggregators to license their content or else face debilitating injunctions (Fancher and Firestone 2010, p. 8).
Extension of direct spending
Many scholars have argued that media deserves treatment as other public infrastructure in form of direct spending. This idea had been proposed by Clay Calvert who had defended the need for newspapers to be given lump-sum payouts on a short term basis (Gamse 2011, p. 358). A key challenge to this approach has been the fear of putting the press on the payroll of the government, an aspect that may affect the independence of journalism. Seemingly, Calvert had acknowledged the possibility of government intrusion into the independence and editorial autonomy of the press (Gamse 2011, p. 359). However, direct spending can be effective if the subsidies are distributed in a neutral manner, suggesting that state and federal governments could divide the revenues for all media houses and magazines equally through size circulation. This can help eradicate the opportunities for politicization during money allocation (McNair 2012, p. 41). Direct spending needs are huge and as such require the state government to provide oversight over the allocation of funds.
Extension of subsidies on the industry actors
The state would also consider protecting public interest journalism through tax subsidy. This approach has attracted multiple proposals with the idea of Newspaper Revitalization Act reviewed frequently (Aaron 2009, p. 12). The bill had proposed the need to amend the Internal Revenue Code; this would involve press and newspapers eligible for nonprofit status only if they cover local, international, or national news coverage that are educational in nature. Tax subsidy has various advantages; it does not require direct infusion of the taxpayer, thus, making it more acceptable compared to direct spending (Barnett 2009, p. 3). The approach also allows for a hybrid model of journalism sectors who can benefit from both private donations and revenue from the adverts. Furthermore, a task subsidy for non-profit organizations like newspapers would ensure that public policies that are overarching are achieved.
In the existing law, individuals are not able to deduct charitable contributions for any values including gifts they receive from charity. Since media services are priced less than the production cost, readers and observers are unable to present claim regarding deductions that are subscription based for non-profit content (Fancher and Firestone 2010, p. 13). It is, thus, the role of the state to create an exemption to such as rule. The state would be able to extend such exemptions to both digital and print subscriptions to ensure that public interest news are fully tax deductibles. Such a bill can help in encouraging subscriptions which ensures consistent and stable funding for watchdog reporting. In addition to this, it would also help mitigate any positive impact of consumer collective action problems (Aaron 2009, p. 10). First, it would help in lowering the costs of subscriptions among the public. Secondly, it would make the public aware of the value of public interest journalism.
Many key players in the journalism sector are already bankrupt or thinking of selling their properties to evade debts. Due to lack of intervention in the market, there is a possibility the media houses will find buyers who are not interested in journalism, but rather in making asset value (Barnett 2009, p. 4). Rather than observe the industry fall, it is the role of the state government to build incentives that transfer the assets to owners who are more committed to the local communities and the public service. This can be achieved through bankruptcy or federal tax laws that ensures that when media houses are put up for sale, their new ownership are more attractive and promote public interest journalism.
A key option to pursue is the utilization of "prepackaged" bankruptcy that allows stakeholders to agree on the future ownership of the media assets before creating a contract. This move can help cut down costs; combined with legislative incentives, the packages could be more attractive and enable public-interest-minded parties to control the media (Kovach and Rosenstiel 2014, p. 55). A key advantage of this "soft-landing" method is the fact that it has very few options. For instance, if a local newspaper is purchased through its employees' cooperative, it can be turned into a L3C news institution, accept funds from local entrepreneurs and public trusts, and employ creative online techniques for generating revenues (Aaron 2009, p. 4). Through this method, the new owner can produce journalism while experimenting various sustainability models. This kind of "sweetener" can be combined by minority media tax credits encouraging the sale of media organizations to minorities including women and underrepresented groups (Barnett 2009, p. 8). Through the restoration of minority tax certificate, minority ownership of media and journalism platforms will be increased.
Creation of R & D Fund for Journalistic Innovation
An effective means of developing future public interest journalism is through the application of institutional pluralism. In this case, funders, paths, different players, news systems, and variable ideas are put together to enhance the practice of journalism for a public good (Carvajal, García-Avilés, and González 2012, p. 640). It is important to think about news industry as an incubator to provide for a future media that has multiple platforms and revenue streams. As such, the key way to achieve this is through the creation of a government-seeded innovation fund that can support journalists. In 1996, the Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF) was created to encourage investment among small business that offers public goods or services in the communications sector (Aaron 2009, p. 5). This Fund was authorized to make investment through the seeded public funds. Similar approach can be adopted for journalism industry with the board formulated by representatives in the industry, public interest groups, and academic institutions. The new venture firm could be considered a public-private partnership with funds used to motivate project creators (Carvajal, García-Avilés, and González 2012, p. 642). A new journalism fund can support creativity that considers the advantage of new technologies. The resources should be used to start up new initiatives that meet the demands of the minority groups.
Other initiatives
The state government has the role of supporting policies that create sustainable free journalism. This is important since the journalism sector provides people with information they need in a fair manner (Carvajal, García-Avilés, and González 2012, p. 639). To create this environment, states must ensure they pick winners and losers in the industry as it creates journalism policies which foster competition, innovation, and public service. In addition to this, it is the role of the policy makers to support a universal, affordable, fast, and open branded internet; this does not only engage citizens to participate in democracy, but also ensure the journalists act freely without being compromised (Kovach and Rosenstiel 2014, p. 55) It is also the role of the government to provide available public data as this increases the engagement level of citizens as well as economic vitality, government accountability, and better public service journalism. Furthermore, there should be provisions that ensure journalist companies respect the interest of consumers through the provision of choice as to what and how personal information should be utilized.
In summary, the journalism industry has played a key role in enhancing democracy through acting as government and private sector watchdogs. As such, public interest journalism ought not to be taken for granted. The media platforms, however, seem to be in serious jeopardy due to the witnessed economic troubles and political influence by leaders. This means that the state provisions have significant role in influencing the future of public interest journalism in a manner that positively impact the lives of citizens. To maintain their vitality, it is the role of the state government to come up with policies that can create a favorable environment for the media institutions. Laws such as intellectual property, privacy protection, and cross-ownership laws must be implemented in order to protect the rights of the journalists to produce and preserve content. Although the congress has made many attempts to support press, further efforts should be made including the creation of subsidies and support Funds that can help journalists grow in the industry. Thus, the state is a critical stakeholder in the development of future public interest journalism.
References
Aaron, C. ed., 2009. Changing media: Public interest policies for the digital age. Free Press.
Barnett, S., 2009. Journalism, democracy and the public interest.
Carvajal, M., García-Avilés, J.A. and González, J.L., 2012. Crowdfunding and non-profit media: The emergence of new models for public interest journalism. Journalism Practice, 6(5-6), pp.638-647.
Fancher, M.R. and Firestone, C.M., 2010. Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism. Communications and Society Program, pp.1-59.
Gamse, N., 2011. Legal remedies for saving public interest journalism in America.
Kovach, B. and Rosenstiel, T., 2014. The elements of journalism: What newspeople should know and the public should expect. Three Rivers Press.
McNair, B., 2012. Journalism and democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. Routledge.
