a proposal to get money to Chicago journalism

 Chicago City Council will create a pilot program of a $5 million fund for Chicago media outlets (for profit, nonprofit; existing, startups). For a contribution of $20, a Chicago resident would get to allocate $120 to Chicago media outlets that apply to be part of the program.

To be eligible the media outlet must:

  • cover matters of local interest to people in Chicago
  • must employ people who live in Chicago
  • be based in Chicago
  • follow the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics (or an analogous code)
  • commit to not being racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, antisemitic

***

Chicago is a media town. Some media companies that have Chicago roots:

And Walt Disney was born in Chicago.

The economics of local media are changing. For reasons, the model of advertising revenue is not cutting it. Various outlets have moved to nonprofit models supported by donations. This has allowed some outlets to continue that would have otherwise ceased to exist, but the model has problems.

People are rightly suspicious of government picking which outlets to fund.

The matching funds approach to supporting local media puts to choice of which media outlets to support at the discretion of the people.

Yes, there are imperfections in such a simplistic approach. Some communities are going to get more quality coverage. And people will give to media outlets that are low quality. Either the content is meh or they are mismanaged.

But it's a reasonable starting point to build from. It's something the City of Chicago can do without seeking permission from the State of Illinois or the US Government.

One of my hopes is that by Chicago being first that more of the media companies and organizations that emerge will be based in Chicago.

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