(Republicaninformer.com)- According to their most recent proposal, the federal government wants to get more involved in local news outlets.
As if they aren’t overly involved already.
According to reports, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) proposed issuing a public policy to assist local journalism and combat misinformation in a recent report. According to the GAO, the lack of economic viability of local news was the problem that caused over 2,000 local newspapers to close since the early 2000s.
They’re losing money and subscribers because many think they don’t report the truth.
According to reports, the GAO proposed tax breaks or credits, direct government funding, government advertising, federal grants or loans, and government intervention with dominant internet platforms to support local nonprofit news. Their report also suggested that the government enact policies to protect certain types of public interest journalism from market failure.
According to the GAO, no universal definition of “public interest journalism” exists. They do, however, define public interest journalism as covering issues of public significance to engage citizens and inform democratic decision-making, which includes investigations into civically important topics.
According to the GAO, public interest journalism serves a public good for society and generates positive externalities. Consumer desire for the government’s standard of public interest journalism may be nonexistent because consumers are unaware of the extent of its benefits.
The agency also warned that decentralizing news production and distribution online, mainly through social media, threatens public interest journalism.
The GAO report was based on a year-long performance audit from September 2021 to September last year.
The GAO delivered the report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), chaired by Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
According to a report, Rosenworcel was an outspoken critic of former President Trump’s speech and attitude toward the media, particularly his thoughts about “fake news.”
Who is the GAO trying to fool? This is welfare for the media, of which the feds want complete control.
