Ashley Elizabeth Miller

Nonprofit news is the future. We need to upend the system and walk away from legacy outlets (as they slowly become big businesses themselves). Alden Global Capital is one of many hedge funds buying and gutting newsrooms across the country. That, compounded with the rise in technology, social media, 24-hour news cycle, the subsequent constant need for new content, and the competition among the millions of other outlets, could kill the industry — or will forcibly funnel all of society’s attention to one or two big players.

Nonprofit newsrooms need help to get off the ground with public funding and philanthropic billionaires, at least for a few years. If the outlet flops, the donor can walk away because the website is less of a liability than a mega outfit. However, we cannot rely on the will of billionaires forever. We need more public funding. Journalism is a public good codified in the Constitution’s First Amendment. The public has the right to be informed. Studies show outlets like NPR can see higher trust among audiences, dispelling skeptics who say government-backed journalism is scoffed at from the start.

We need regulations on social media companies, but we should not ban it, obviously it is an incredible tool to share and receive information. Realistically, we must embrace social media to build trust with our readers. We need to increase confidence and get involved with our local nonprofit news communities where we work. This could look like hosting weekly events: maybe one at a coffee spot near an elementary school and the next at a community board meeting — we need to connect with the readers to make them feel a part of the conversation.

Another pillar of my plan is engaging news apps that mirror social media sites. We need a competing news app to Instagram and TikTok, but not one for all, individual apps for each local newsroom (which may become easier to create with AI). Once we find a model that works, we focus on driving traffic directly to the site and direct-to-consumer subscriptions, with a respectable fee for readers over a certain income and a small sum for those who earn less. (I realize this will be difficult.) Did someone say tax the rich and feed the poor?