Local news gaps are a national crisis.
And as usual, California leads the way.
Here in Southern California, there’s a host of huge news deserts quickly developing in counties with as many people as many U.S. states.
Today in fact, Orange County Register reporters are walking out to protest stale wages, along with a host of others across the Southern California News Group.
[Read: A Fight for Local News: OC Register Workers Plan A Walk Out Over Stagnant Pay]
Why should people care if local reporters get paid fairly?
It’s simple math.
Less reporters means more government fraud, waste and abuse at city hall.
It fuels corruption.
And erodes quality of life.
Just look at places like Anaheim.
Impacts From The Hollowing Out of Civic Journalism
In an environment with fewer and fewer reporters over the years, Anaheim’s City Hall culture devolved to the point where a wave of special interests – the Disneyland resort, the Angels, hoteliers, developers – along with a host of public and private sector unions have been able to largely steer public policy to their favor by exerting undue influence at city hall.
The influence web largely finances local elections through a host of political action committees – called PACs – that fund a flood of hit mail to local mailboxes helping elect special interest-friendly candidates.
[Read: Disney’s PAC Continues Spending Big To Sway Voters in Anaheim]
In essence, these PACs allow candidates to craft their own political messaging to residents – nearly half of whom in places like Anaheim are on public health plans – convincing them to support elected officials who vote to steer resources to the resort district.
[Read: The Happiest Place on Earth is Surrounded by Some of Orange County’s Poorest]
With less and less reporters around to question, Anaheim moved into the fast lane of corruption and crony capitalism in recent years.
The result on Anaheim residents’ quality of life has been clear.
Much of the city’s working class neighborhoods struggle with the impacts of homelessness and overcrowding not only on housing but also parking.
Some areas have even had to plead with city hall – after a high school kid got killed walking home in the dark – just to get street lights on.
[Read: The Lights Get Brighter Around Anaheim’s Edison Community After Residents Speak Out]
In the meantime, Anaheim politicians worked hard to sell Angel Stadium to the Angels for the cheapest price possible.
That slanted process was something that Voice of OC – despite its small staff – really focused its investigative lens on for more than a decade, covering those deliberations through several one-sided proposed deals and publishing more than any other local outlet about the stadium deals and their questionable nature.
Those corrupted stadium negotiations were ultimately split open by a bombshell FBI affidavit in 2022, revealing a corruption probe that halted the stadium sale, prompted the resignation of Anaheim’s corrupt Mayor Harry Sidhu and eventually led to his guilty plea on a host of corruption charges.
Anaheim’s elected officials are still grappling with the corruption probe’s fallout as they consider a series of reforms over the past few months.
State Leaders Consider Legislative Fixes, Tout Voice of OC
This month, California State Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) opened a hearing on state legislation addressing the local news crisis by noting the importance of the reporting of Voice of OC reporters on the Angel Stadium sale.
“But for the Voice of OC that probably wouldn’t have been exposed the way it has,” Umberg said at a Dec. 5 State Senate Judiciary Committee field hearing in Los Angeles at the UCLA Law School.
The hearing – seen as historic by many media observers in the wake of Big Tech settlements in Australia and Canada – brought together a host of news publishers, Google VP Richard Gingras, media labor leaders and academics to discuss how local news gets financed and the key role it plays in a functioning democracy.
Click here to see the hearing and access source documents on the issue.
Umberg, who chairs the committee, succinctly summarized the tough challenge facing lawmakers to start the daylong proceedings, asking out loud:
“How do we make sure we provide access to credible information so we can continue to function as a democracy?”
Yet more and more, that’s the problem: Residents don’t get access to that kind of news.
At too many major U.S. corporate newsrooms these days – hellbent on selling advertising as opposed to news content – readers mainly get entertainment.
It’s what Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) – who has spent the last few years with his staff developing the California Journalism Preservation Act – calls the “hollowing out of civic journalism.”
“And the oversight it provides,” Glazer added.
Even the political beat these days at major news outlets often seems like an entertainment show, running after ideological extremes and events along with covering polls, candidate announcements, endorsements – the horse race.
But rarely any accountability reporting.
Meanwhile, politicians get a free pass.
Residents get limited, uninspiring choices on Election Day.
Again, consider Anaheim.
The Disneyland resort district – using the same PAC tactics – got an even more compliant city council elected last year, despite the fallout from the explosive FBI corruption probe into City Hall.
A resort-friendly council that has so far resisted substantial ethics reform – like a gift ban – or restricting elected officials from voting on projects that benefit special interests financing their campaigns.
Now, state legislators are trying to figure out how local communities can get better news so they can prevent situations like Anaheim, where unchecked special interests reign supreme over residents.
What Does Saving Journalism Look Like?
Does bailing out corporate news organizations really save civic news?
Consider this last year, California taxpayers granted $25 million to UC Berkeley for a two-year program to fund fellows to work at many corporate newsrooms across the state among others, like ethnic newspapers and some nonprofits.
That means your tax dollars went to subsidize a reporter at corporate outlets like the Orange County Register – the very newsroom where reporters just walked out to send a strong message about stale pay and working conditions.
To date, efforts like the California Journalism Preservation Act don’t put many diversity or pay requirements on corporate newsrooms seeking philanthropic support.
Even worse, from my reading, the legislation seeks to bolster the same kind of advertising-focused environment that’s destroying civic journalism at most corporate American newsrooms.
Civic news doesn’t monetize like corporate sports, business and entertainment – areas where most U.S. newsrooms focus staff.
I just spent the last few years working as a volunteer with a National Association of Hispanic Journalists Task Force examining the dire lack of diversity at the top investigative news teams across America.
Our upcoming report shows that most corporate newsroom managers don’t want to confront the overwhelmingly white, male make up of investigative teams.
Should taxpayers support newsrooms that don’t reflect their faces?
At the state Judiciary Committee hearing, Google VP Gingras effectively challenged corporate publishers by presenting Google’s extensive journalism record both in terms of supporting journalism and helping publishers drive revenue.
Gingras emphasized that the internet changed publishing, raising questions about whether corporate newsroom managers have adapted their coverage and monetization models.
Corporate news publishers argue that platforms like Google have taken away the advertising dollars that used to fund newsrooms, with executives at the hearing stating their advertising drop offs started in about 2005 when platforms like Google entered that space.
One estimate from Big Tech critics at the hearing was that platforms owe as much as $10 billion annually to publishers.
Another fascinating perspective at the hearing also was brought by LA Times President and COO Chris Argentieri, who noted – despite whatever criticisms of corporate newsroom people want to make – there’s a fundamental shift in how Big Tech uses news content now without paying.
In the early days of Google, the search engine would send clicks directly to news publishers, which has huge value.
Gingras said that each link referral from Google to local publishers is worth an estimated .27 cents.
Yet Argenitieri – again using the example of Voice of OC reporting in Anaheim at the hearing – showed that Google’s latest search engine is summarizing news stories as opposed to sending curious readers directly to news sites.
Google argues they still send a lot of free business – by way of readers – to news publishers as their searches still include links to original content.
Gingras at the hearing also highlighted a long record as ethical partners with news publishers, saying the company sponsored a host of journalistic tools, conferences and direct support.
Voice of OC has received some limited funding through the Google News Initiative, which issued small grants to news publishers across America earlier this year.
At the hearing, Lance Knobel – founder and CEO for the nonprofit Cityside Journalism Initiative – also spoke on behalf of Google calling them a valued partner for local publishers.
Arbitration Between Publishers & Big Tech?
One of the most intriguing nuggets that came out of the media hearings, which Sen. Umberg said would not be the last – is the idea of direct arbitration between news publishers and Big Tech platforms.
In that model, similar to Major League Baseball, news publishers are able to enter into direct negotiations with Big Tech platforms like Google and present the value of their own product, put a price on it.
Platforms then get to name their price.
And an arbitrator decides.
Not perfect.
But seemingly much more fair than floating corporate news outlets going light on diversity, pay and civic journalism.
Local Solutions Remain The Most Impactful
To me, all of this continues to underscore how important it is for communities – on their own – to help fund and support strong civic reporting news outlets focused primarily on helping residents protect their quality of life.
That has been the founding principle of Voice of OC and my direct experience for the past 15 years.
Civic-focused news is the best organizing tool in local communities because it allows residents to kick the tires on policy ideas, hold officials accountable in real time and host real time conversations about quality of life issues.
All with an aim toward real time solutions, not entertainment.