The Illinois Local Journalism Task Force recently released its final report.
The task force was created by law in 2021 and looked at the state of local newspapers and journalism in Illinois. The report details the findings, which are not surprising to anyone who has followed the newspaper industry during the past couple of decades.
The report also includes some suggestions for helping the industry. As one might expect those suggestions involve tax credits, grants, and government subsidies. None of the recommendations involve purely market-oriented solutions. That's a pity, I think.
The report is 22-pages long, including the appendix and a list of the task force's members, which alone is worth reading, and sheds some light as to the final recommendations, I think.
The report all but ignores the many important factors that contributed to the decline of newspapers and that continue to contribute to the slow death of legacy "journalism." Of course, it is the product of a government panel, so one ought to expect some serious flaws.
For a better read about the challenges to local journalism, one that provides market-proven success stories, I suggest "Beacons in the Darkness" by Dave Hoekstra, an Illinois based writer and recovering newspaper man.
-- Thank you for reading. Your comments and questions are always welcome. Kevin Botterman
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