Journalists can be averse to media policy, but the stakes today are too high for practitioners to sit these debates out. The years that followed the 2011 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Report were a lost decade in media policy, in which policymakers dithered as an information apocalypse loomed. It is essential to acknowledge that the media ecosystem has always been affected by public policy and to broaden our vision of how policymakers can help local news survive and innovate. I argue for urgent, renewed investments from government, philanthropy, and consumers to create a new media ecosystem in which all kinds of news media—public, nonprofit, and commercial—can be revived and can thrive.
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