How do you think courts or parliaments are funded? The same argument applies here. Why should the fourth power be any different than the second or third?

Fair point, but consider that the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government is enforced by the constitution. Without a constitutional amendment, a fourth "public information" branch would have no such protection.

Furthermore, consider that these days even the courts (which are supposed to be politically neutral) have become highly politicized. I can't think of any reason why a supposedly neutral fourth branch of government would be any better in that regard.

I do not know for sure about the US constitution, but my constitution already has freedom of press in it. I guess the press would have to distribute the money by themselves, the government would just hand it over.

I’m not making an argument, I’m asking why would the government do this, now especially.

Why not maintain the status quo?

The government funds a Supreme Court that rules to overturn its own legislation, often criticizing it in the process.

Why would private investors fund news criticizing them?

As long as you have many different news outlets owned by different investors this should be ok?

Except wealthy people still own the vast majority, so news will generally favor the wealthy.

The problem is that the interests of the private investors converge. The best we can hope from them is to fight each other, but they won't ever attack the system that keeps them all rich.

The public should not care why its government might not like to fund news criticizing it. Just governments tolerate and respond to criticism.

propublica.org

The "about us"[0] page is a bit hidden but explains well the concept.

- [0]: https://www.propublica.org/about/

Exactly. If the King paid for the newspaper, he would de-fund them if they reported news that went against the King. The fourth estate must remain independent.

The same exact statement is true for private ownership. The difference is that with public funding you can legislate to prevent governments to interfere with the news outlets. When they are privately owned on the other hand, you have no control over it.