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KQED's Forum

What’s Killing – and What Could Revive – Journalism in America

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2726 Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Journalism in America was a highly profitable business for more than a century until the internet – and other factors – disrupted the traditional business model resulting in decades of declining advertising and subscription revenue. Last week, the Los Angeles Times cut about 20 percent of its staff, adding to a growing list of news organizations making cuts in the past few months: The Washington Post, Business Insider, Sports Illustrated and NBC News. Meanwhile, hedge funds and private equity firms buying up newspapers has also changed the industry – a trend Bay Area filmmaker Rick Goldsmith examines in his new documentary, “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink.” We’ll talk about the demise of local newspapers, efforts to revive the news business, and what it means for democracy. Guests: Rick Goldsmith, documentary filmmaker; director, "Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink" (2023), "Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press" (1996) and "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" (2009) Julie Reynolds, freelance journalist; producer, Gray Area - a podcast about justice and redemption; part-time associate editor, The Imprint S. Mitra Kalita, CEO, URL Media - a network of Black and Brown community news outlets that share content and revenue; publisher, Epicenter-NYC; veteran journalist; media executive; prolific commentator and author Ramona Giwargis, co-founder and CEO, San Jose Spotlight Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for KQWED Podcasts comes from Landmark College, holding their annual summer

0:04.9

Institute for educators from June 24 through 26th.

0:09.1

More information at landmark.edu slash LCSI.

0:13.8

Greetings, boomtown.

0:15.2

The Xfinity Wi-Fi is booming!

0:17.5

Xfinity combines the power of internet and mobile.

0:20.7

So we've all got lightning fast speeds at home and on the go!

0:23.6

Learn more at Xfinity.com.

0:25.6

Restrictions apply.

0:26.6

Xfinity, internet required.

0:27.6

Actual speeds vary.

0:28.6

From KQED.

0:31.6

You. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.

0:46.6

Yeah, I believe you're aware that there's a crisis in journalism.

0:49.5

And to be honest with you, there's been a crisis in journalism since the day I got into this industry 17 years ago.

0:55.4

The print business models that underpinned serious newspaper reporting collapsed and other

1:00.0

sources of news have not come close to filling that hole. The gutting of our journalistic institutions

1:05.5

is not exclusively about the internet companies snatching the advertising business, though.

1:11.1

A new documentary strip for parts fills in a crucial part of the picture,

1:15.5

laying the blame for the rapid decline of American newspapers

1:18.5

on a single hedge fund, which has bought hundreds of local papers.

1:22.7

We'll talk about what happened there and where the hope for journalism lies right after this news.

...

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