Re:Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home
by bdavisx on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @02:17PM
(#46606281)
>It's much easier to successfully bribe/coerce/undermine a single individual running an independent newsletter like this than it is an entire newsroom.
Except the problem in the US now is that newspapers are owned by corporations that own a bunch of newspapers, or very rich individuals/families - and a single individual can dictate what an entire newsroom says.
I don't see much of a difference when it comes to corruptibility.
Re:Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home
by tunesmith on Tuesday January 13, 2026 @03:57PM
(#46607861)
parent poster is saying a healthy newsroom is much better than one guy. You're disagreeing by saying one guy is not better than an unhealthy newsroom.
Re:Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home
by echaozh on Thursday January 15, 2026 @02:54AM
(#46629448)
if, there are healthy newsrooms
Re:Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home
by bdavisx on Thursday January 15, 2026 @10:45PM
(#46642761)
I don't want to nitpick, but they didn't say "healthy", and I think the current situation wrt news ownership should be called out at every opportunity, because not everyone is aware of it.
The main thing you need to watch out for in this kind of situation is corruption of the news filtering process on the local level. It's much easier to successfully bribe/coerce/undermine a single individual running an independent newsletter like this than it is an entire newsroom. Editors are helpful for vetting sources, providing guidance on how to follow up on leads, etc.