Journalism Is Broken. What Would It Take to Fix It?
This week in Repairing America, we look at the news industry and one of the few ideas in journalism policy that’s actually gaining traction: states treating local news like a public good worth funding.
As hedge funds gut newspapers and entire counties lose reporters, places like Illinois and New Jersey are experimenting with tax credits and grant programs designed to keep journalists on the ground and accountability reporting alive.
Parker Molloy examines what these programs are funding, why they’ve succeeded where federal efforts stalled, and whether public investment could become a real path forward for local journalism before more communities become news deserts.
What If Journalism Was Treated Like Public Infrastructure?
In September 2025, when ICE agents began rolling through Chicago neighborhoods as part of an operation the Department of Homeland Security called Operation Midway Blitz, the city’s residents needed someone to tell them what was happening. Not federal officials, who would refuse to disclose who was being arrested or why. Not the White House, whose press releases ran the propaganda, not the receipts. Just a reporter willing to stand outside a courthouse, count the unmarked vehicles, and write down what she saw.
From the Reporter’s Notebook 📓
Reporting this piece, I kept running into the same disconnect. Three sources—a policy guy, an academic, a working publisher—all independently told me this isn't a silver bullet, it's a piece of the puzzle. Meanwhile, most of the federal coverage of the local news crisis still treats making Big Tech pay as the only fix on the table, even after the federal bill stalled in Congress and California's version got steamrolled by Google's lobbying spend.
The thing I want readers to take from this piece is that the rescue of local news isn't coming from Washington, and waiting for it to is its own kind of decision. Six states have already built something that works. The other 44 are running out of excuses.
Next Up in the Series: Women’s Health
A functional health system requires autonomy, investment, and a cultural shift that centers women’s lived experiences. Next week, reporter Lauren Rankin explores the institutional barriers holding back progress in women’s health care in America, and what it would take to knock them down.
Read More From the Series
The Blueprint for a More Affordable America Already Exists
From guaranteed income to universal childcare, states are finding solutions to the affordability crisis are already in motion. The challenge now is political will—not policy design.
Read the full feature from Rainsford Stauffer here.