Good things are happening! A county-first bill could help save local journalism from vulture funds and prevent news deserts. Moreover, a Supreme Court decision could help avert another financial crisis, a millionaires tax provides billions, California fights corporate homebuyers and the Justice Department takes over the live music monopoly.
A new effort to protect local news
The country’s first bill could help stem the alarming decline of local journalism. On May 21, the Illinois state legislature passed a bill requiring local newspaper owners to notify employees and the state ahead of time if the paper is to be sold to an out-of-state buyer.
Local journalism across the country is struggling. According to the nonprofit media institute Poynter, more 2900 newspapers has been closed since 2005, resulting in the loss of nearly 43,000 journalist jobs. Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative as well found that by 2023, more than half of all counties nationwide will either have no local news outlet or only one, resulting in “news deserts” depriving about one-fifth of the US population of access to reliable information.
