French lawmakers recently implemented A credit credit for citizens who subscribe to news outlets. Similarly, other governments around the world directly or indirectly fund their media. Although they have taken an important step towards the funding of journalism, these models will contradict the American First Amendment, guaranteed – in part – a press without government intervention.
This freedom is important to ensure that the media news can rebuke the American government and handle it. That is why, at a time when accessing accurate information may not be more important, American public members should decide to invest in journalism.
Why, then, are Americans hesitant to pay for the high quality news they need?
American trust in news media has reached history Low level. Americans are increasingly seeing news media Bias toward a particular political party. In most cases, Americans tend to think that news media is biased against their own political party and belief, a phenomenon called Media Impact. These outcomes are likely to be tied to two important things: increased political rhetoric that continues to question the accuracy of the news, and the bias of the public's understanding of what is accurate.
First, let's consider what the “media” creates and how political elites have discussed it. The word “media” is often used as a selective -selective denigration – is applied to news outlets that contradict one's views. Politicians and foundits, especially conservatives, have worked to create a common enemy – the news media – in recent years. Trump has repeatedly attacked News organizations, and Fox News are often critics “The mainstream media. “The irony, of course, is that Fox News is the most extensively consumed The cable news network, which puts it is quite squarely as part of the mainstream media. Increasing rhetoric positioning American journalists as an enemy of the American Public Exacerbates with low levels of trust and making it more difficult to disseminate accurate information.
The second point to consider is how the American public was careful about the content of the news. The good meanings of educators and friends encourage their students and acquaintances to be skeptical and critical to the media they consume. While a critical perspective towards the media is important, Americans also need to be skeptical and critical to their own belief systems. Failure to do so often leads to Confirmation biasWhere individuals choose information that agrees with their own beliefs because they do not want to encounter views on diverse. Because many Americans have learned to be critical of the media's content but not their own beliefs, such doubt can lead to easy rejection of uncomfortable but accurate information.
So where does it leave the future of American journalism? It should start with a reemphasis on the importance of accurate reporting. The founders of America understood the need for a free and independent press, and we must recognize that this important creature must continue to exist and develop in order to work our democracy.
Then Americans should consider what information they value and why. If we only consume information that agrees with our own views, we allow incorrect information to run a broad and immoral actor to take advantage of. We should be open to new insights – even the challenging ones – and those views should be rooted in fact.
However, the important part of it, that Americans should be willing to pay for their news. Good journalism is expensive. In order for the press to work with a capitalist -driven democracy, people must pay for the content that fulfills their goals to be good.
When news consumption has moved to primary online distribution, newspapers fail to establish a working business model that can be accommodated for upcoming reduction in hard copy advertising and subscriptions. Although newspapers eventually moved online, they found that online advertising and subscriptions tend to be far away Less useful. Certainly, some modern news organizations have found ways to generate the income needed for good journalism, but the possibility of other newspapers that continue to exist, especially the very important local outlets, depends on the power of consumer purchase.
Without a focused and sustainable investment from the American public, local journalism may have ceased to exist. Small and midsize newspapers across the country Business Integration or Exit in part because of the decisions of the owner but also because the Americans decided to receive their news in combined -with -forms (such as Google News, Facebook, and Twitter). While those combined -with those who rely on local news sources to collect their content, the income derived from advertising or other means, such as selling user data, is often not distributed (or not fairly fair) to the source information.
Data continues to show that Americans willing to pay for online media. We may not bathe in our Netflix subscription prices or Disney+ adding our online services. So why do we avoid thinking about paying for the quality of journalism? News consumers are accustomed to free access to news content. Since we are damaged by the news content available for free, we hope it will continue to be free. An impact of anchor has made any increase in news prices seems great, even though a newspaper subscription often does not exceed a Netflix subscription.
If Americans want to receive high quality, accurate information, they should be ready to pay for it. Since online ads are often purchased at a portion of print ad prices, ad income does not provide sufficient to support news operations. Direct government funding introduces a conflict of interest. Nonprofit status and tax exclusion encourage contributions especially from the richest individuals and corporations. Each of these models themselves does not guarantee that American journalism will continue as a independent guardian of the government and others with power. Instead, Americans should pay for their news content to provide support for this essential element of our democracy.
Even with this information, it may be difficult to decide which news organizations to support. The following techniques should help news buyers make these decisions:
- Think about where you got your news. Do you choose the information just because it agrees with you? Don't do that. Choose news resources that do more than just kidnap a party.
- Make sure you are different between news and commentary. Good news organizations should clearly demarcate what the news is and what the opinion is.
- Check the use of resource news organizations. Are the resources they use in their news stories are believable and considered experts in their field? Note: Experts are often people other than politicians.
- Find journalistic standards. A good news organization should have an ethical code or clearly reporting guidelines posted on its website.
- If you see a piece of information about social media or a combined -with -the -news news, make sure the information originated in a legitimate news organization (using the other steps listed here). Then visit the news organization site that created the original content to make sure it gets an ad income for that content.
- Read the entire article, not just headlines (or Facebook posts or tweets). Deep reporting provides a greater context, which is part of why it is worth paying.
- Get your news from many sources. Try to choose at least one local, national, and international outlet. And don't be afraid to check their work using Site-checking sites.
And importantly, once you have used this list to help select your preferred news organizations, be prepared to support their work by paying for their content.
Jennifer Hoewe and Brett Sherrick are assistant professors at the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University.
Read more:
- Legacy media is dead. LIFE LEGACY MEDIA
- Meet the 20th century media tycoon to marry Trump's separation-and not soaked in fear of revenge
- Are you ready to pay for the news? The future of journalism may be on it
- Stagwell CEO: Journalism is drained by excessive brand safety -censorship
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
