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Margaret, I enjoyed your conversation with Phil Napoli. One aspect of the decline of media in 2023 are the effects of corporate consolidation and Reagan's deregulation of broadcast news. When combined with the rise of the Internet, the traditional business model of journalism collapsed and has not been replaced with whatever the future business model might be, although smart companies like the NY Times are doing their best.

I spent my career in broadcast news, mostly as a network radio anchor and reporter, but also in local TV and radio. For a time before the financial crisis of 2008 I worked for the New York Times and its local station, WQXR, when we were trying to set up a boutique radio network that would use NYT correspondents on newscasts that would have been tailored to mostly NPR-style stations that wanted additional news coverage--an effort that failed because ad revenues crashed.

My point is that the declining economics of the news business affect the quality of content to the great detriment of civic life.

Stephen Knight

Seattle

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A thought-provoking episode, will be mulling over it for some time!

I was amazed to hear that neighborhood listservs are the prime source of local news and information for people in the Durham focus groups. Does that not at least partly speak to the fact that “real” local news sources are in decline across our country?

“Real” news is expensive. People are paid to dig into the details and provide context and analysis. Investigative reporting, so critical to the health of democracy, is even more

expensive. From what I heard today, listservs would be the cheapest possible news-like offering. But I would say that a lot of TV news today is also cheap, with a heavy dependence on live coverage. Cameras trained on Trump’s arriving plane?

Since actual journalistic news is so

Important to democracy, it seems as if it should be supported more systematically by the government (with appropriate distancing from content control). Maybe with a requirement to meet certain journalistic criteria? My brain still burns to recall Moonves crowing “ It may not be good for America, but It’s damn good for CBS”. How can that even be acceptable?

Just thinking out loud.

Thanks for a great episode!

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