“If voters aren’t listening, then what are we doing here?” A Q&A with Pat Rynard
On January 4, political news site
Iowa Starting Line announced it was going on hiatus until further notice. “Good journalism should hold the powerful accountable, but it should do so in reality, not just theory,” Pat Rynard, founder and managing editor, wrote. “And if voters aren’t listening to it, then what are we doing here?”
Rynard launched
Iowa Starting Line in 2015 as a left-leaning news blog for political insiders “a way to bring some balance to the online political conversation in Iowa,” he says. Over the years, the publication evolved into a full-fledged news outlet with a large staff. One year ago, in the lead-up to a chaotic primary election, the
If voters aren t listening, then what are we doing here? : a Q&A with Pat Rynard
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New report outlines COVID-era proposals to save journalism
“Saving Journalism: A Vision for the Post-covid World”
Dozens of plans to help save journalism have emerged since the covid-19 pandemic decimated media outlets globally. Many of these initiatives involve increased support from foundations and discussion about how media business models can adapt to the current crisis. But desperate times require flexibility and innovation, and we are seeing a surprising number of proposals that break from past practices. Most promising are Australia’s efforts to get Google and Facebook to pay for news and legislative proposals in the US to pass laws and get investment that would support local news.
With the loss of journalism outlets, homogeneity becomes the norm
On October 20, Minneapolis alt-weekly
City Pages reported that the Minneapolis police deputy chief had been demoted for saying that the force’s hiring tactics, left unchanged, would yield “the same old white boys.” Soon after, they reported that the ACLU was suing the city of Minneapolis for evicting unhoused people from local parks. The next week, the publication went dark, another victim of a pandemic year.
City Pages wasn’t alone. In February, the
Waterbury Record reported on a municipal measure that would increase taxes in the Vermont town by fifty percent. In March,
The 2020 Journalism Crisis: A year in review
2020 was a banner year for news. While the year in journalism yielded intrepid political reporting amid a contentious election year, vital public health information amid a pandemic, and exacting historical analysis amid historic protests, publications across the country cut back: stripping salaries, ousting staffers, closing offices, and shutting down print editions.
In the early months of the pandemic, commercial publications at every level made cuts in attempts to stay afloat. Some survived; others foundered. As public health expectations and restrictions waxed and waned, so, too, did reporting jobs and salaries. Reporters were furloughed only to be fired, fired only to be rehired, and offered buyouts after twenty years of tireless work. Some outlets crowd-sourced enough funding to produce local coverage before the November election. Many continue to publish work through the efforts of small, under-resourced teams.
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