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Jim Hightower's Lowdown

NOTE: Hurricane Helene has wreaked horrific damage all across Appalachia and the Southeast. Some terrific rural organizers have put together this comprehensive document of resources for people affected, as well as ways to help.

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Perhaps you’ve noticed from the shrinkage (or total elimination) of your local newspaper that this source of hometown journalism has become monopolized, nationalized, and trivialized by conglomerate owners.

How uplifting then, to see a national consortium of saviors rallying to reestablish a “thriving news media” for our democracy. How? Well, say the saviors, by promoting “brand stability” for potential advertisers. Huh? Who are these “saviors?”

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Unfortunately, they are predatory media giants such as the USA Today chain and other national news conglomerators and shrivelizers. Hello—they are the cause of the real instability in local news! These powers are using the people’s cry for media decentralization and localization as a ruse to goose up their own ad revenue, allowing them to further monopolize and trivialize print journalism.

But here’s a better idea: Advance true media democracy by creating your own local, non-corporate newspaper. Ha, scoff the barons of Big Media, that’s impossible! But as an activist friend of mine puts it: “Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those who’re doing it.”

Across the country, communities are taking charge. Here in Texas, the Caldwell/Hays Examiner was launched in 2022, with a focus on rural issues up and down the I-35 corridor. In Western Iowa, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Art Cullen has co-founded a nonprofit that supports local news efforts through grants. And in Colorado, a group of folks mobilized to buy a local newspaper chain before a hedge fund operation could sweep in and snatch it up.

This is Jim Hightower saying… To learn more about how you can rebuild your local news outlets, visit the Institute for Nonprofit News at inn.org.

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