Most Americans think money comes before mission at U.S. news organizations
I don’t think there is much doubt that traditional media companies put profits over reporting and facts. It is difficult to critique war when defense contractors buy up much of your ad space. Likewise, it is difficult to critique big pharma when pharmaceutical companies buy up many of your ads, etc.<p>The problem with the proposal to make the news publicly funded is that that just replaces one set of incentives with another. If governments dictate when media outlets receive funding and how much, then it is unlikely that said media companies will be overly critical of the government. This same kind of thing has started to creep into other parts of society like the public education system where standardized test scores are often considered more important than a well-rounded <i>education</i>.<p>Personally, this is why I like the business model of places like Substack where you can find specific journalists you trust to actually hold people in power accountable and can support them directly. Finding truly unbiased information these days is not easy.<p>Speaking of Substack, I highly recommend this three part series about conflicts of interest and media companies:<p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rebeccastrong.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;big-media-big-conflicts-of-interest" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rebeccastrong.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;big-media-big-conflicts...</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rebeccastrong.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;the-monopoly-on-your-mind-part-2" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rebeccastrong.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;the-monopoly-on-your-mi...</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rebeccastrong.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;the-monopoly-on-your-mind-part-3" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rebeccastrong.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;the-monopoly-on-your-mi...</a>