Journalism is endangered around the U.S. Seattle Times publisher has ideas to save it | Opinion

“Capitalism run amok” is killing America’s free press and contributing to the deterioration of civility and the decline of our democracy.

That’s the argument of Frank Blethen, publisher and CEO of the Seattle Times Co., who will be the featured speaker during the Columbia Basin Badger Club’s Nov. 30 online forum.

Blethen, a fourth-generation member of the family that’s owned the prize-winning Times for 127 years, comes to this argument with a bias in favor of family-owned newspapers and websites, but there’s little argument that local news organizations in whatever form and ownership are in rapid decline.

In the past 20 years, some 2,500 newspapers have folded — with the loss of 43,000 journalists — at the rate of two newspapers per week since 2005.

Research by Northwest University and the Pew Research Center has found that some 70 million Americans in 200 counties live in “news deserts” without a local news organization. The result, researchers say, has been lower voter turnout, less political competition and declining civic engagement.

If people don’t know what’s going on in their communities and local government, why should they care? And it’s become easier for misinformation to be accepted as fact without credible local news. Witness people who believe child sex rings are being run out of fast-food businesses or that our election system is corrupt and broken.

Local news organizations — including newspapers, websites, radio and television — are struggling or gone because the old advertising-based revenue model has collapsed. At the same time, growing online sources often offer as news that’s often false or misleading — having bypassed the vetting process offered by editors of mainstream news reports.

Blethen argues local news is under assault because of three reasons:

• The loss of local news ownership to “financial mercenaries” that have bled local journalism organizations and staffs. (Note: The Tri-City Herald is owned by the McClatchy Co., which is owned since bankruptcy by the Chatham Asset Management hedge fund. McClatchy also owns a non-controlling 49.5 percent interest in the Seattle Times Co., which also includes newspapers in Yakima and Walla Walla.)

• The “monopolization” of digital advertising by Big Tech’s Google and Facebook and their audience-targeting abilities. Not to mention their uncompensated hijacking of news produced by regular media through links to their news.

• And the “inexcusable failure of successive presidents, congressional leaders and regulatory agencies to deal with the loss of local newspapers to absentee financial mercenaries.”

As someone who spent more than 40 years as a newspaper journalist — the last 26 with the Tri-City Herald — I believe the losses in local news sources also partly was self-inflicted failure to innovate in online news and advertising presentation.

Blethen does not simply complain. He’s led efforts to probe reasons for and solutions to what is credibly a threat to American democracy. Our Constitution established a free press as a “fourth estate” to watch over our government through an informed citizenry.

Efforts in some areas to save local news through philanthropy and nonprofit status are not enough in Blethen’s view. He proposes a system of government support and legislation as part of a 10-point plan to save independent newspapers.

Such ideas are controversial, but don’t American citizens want, indeed need, credible local news? Would that make us more involved and more civil? Is local news truly a foundation of democracy?

You can register for this event, which will include a Q&A session, at columbiabasinbadgers.com . You will receive a confirmation and links to join the hour-long Zoom forum that starts at noon Nov. 30, as well as av subsequent a half-hour “Table Talk” op-mic session. Cost is $5 for nonmembers, while club members can join for free.