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Local newspaper boxes in Detroit in 2008 after Barack Obama was declared president. Today, the collapse of local journalism diminishes civic life. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press)

All politics is local, is an old American saying. That might partly explain why democratic politics is going so badly especially, but not only, in the United States. For local government to work properly, there must be local journalism to hold politicians and policymakers to account. But local journalism has been collapsing in many parts of the world.

This makes it more difficult for citizens to connect to civic life, both locally and, eventually, nationally. Local problems that could have wider significance go unreported, and many of the on-the-ground effects of national policies are unrecognized. But though there is no single fix for the decline of local journalism, we are not helpless. Experiments in different countries suggest ways to revitalize local reporting. All make the production of public interest news, by whatever economic means available, a priority over seeking to salvage outdated commercial approaches.

For most of the 20th century, the news business relied on advertising revenue. But that model started collapsing in the late 1990s as the internet became ubiquitous. Local journalism was hit especially hard, not only because ads migrated to free online classified boards (like Craigslist), but also because local papers lacked the resources to build an attractive web presence that could support a successful subscription model.

The consequences have been dramatic. By some estimates, one-third of the newspapers that existed in the U.S. in 2005 will be gone by 2025. Some 70 million Americans already live in news deserts, or will soon. In the United Kingdom, 320 local newspapers closed between 2009 and 2019. The private equity firms that have been buying up news organizations tend to make things worse. Rather than investing in journalism, their focus is on ruthlessly reducing the size of newsrooms and selling off newspaper buildings (many of which are in lucrative downtown locations).

The implications for democracy are beyond debate. Social scientists who study the issue have demonstrated clearly that less local journalism results in higher levels of corruption, undermines political competition and reduces citizen engagement.

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Because politicians representing rural or neglected areas are subject to less accountability, the effects of their decisions on their constituencies are then also less likely to be investigated properly. And even if there is good local reporting, it too often remains local. George Santos serial lying was known around Long Island and covered by a local newspaper, but it did not become a national news story until weeks after he was elected to Congress.

Making matters worse, the vacuum created by the absence of local news is often filled by national culture wars. Of course, engagement with local issues does not automatically make people more civil or pragmatic. Culture wars can just as easily be stoked at the local level by operatives who create moral panics through propaganda outlets that are designed to look like newspapers.

When inundated with propaganda masquerading as reporting, people living in news deserts generally do not even realize that they are being deprived of news.

Although no single business model has emerged as a reliable replacement for advertising revenue, alternatives to the tyranny of the market exist. Consider philanthropy. While there is an obvious danger of creating dependencies or conflicts of interest, a mixture of philanthropic funding and volunteering can give rise to inspiring initiatives like Report for America, which places people in local newsrooms to cover underreported issues.

Countries like the U.K. could make it easier for journalism to qualify as a charitable activity, and governments everywhere can provide grants. The peril of creating dependencies or conflicts of interest is avoidable if there are enough layers between the state and recipients of taxpayer money.

Contrary to what Elon Musk wants people to think when he calls NPR state-affiliated media, mechanisms for insulating journalists from political pressures have long been available in public service broadcasting. There is no reason why they cant be extended to local journalism as well.

Other innovative approaches include employee- and community-owned news organizations. The Philadelphia Inquirer, for example, is run as a public-benefit corporation, and owned by a nonprofit institute devoted to reinvigorating local journalism.

Democracy depends on communication. But effective communication, in turn, depends on understanding which democratic decisions really matter. To that end, the nonprofit States Newsroom focuses squarely on state-level policies that affect citizens in ways that are not obvious even to the relatively well-informed.

The Documenters Network trains and pays people to report on local government meetings that otherwise would go unobserved. The BBC, for instance, has partnered with local newspapers to increase the quantity of local reporting, sending a clear signal that decisions on the ground matter.

Some approaches will function better than others, depending on the locale. But as a general matter, it is crucial to avoid strategies that primarily benefit larger regional or even national newspaper companies, rather than local institutions.

Innovative plans to let newspapers negotiate for content fees from big platforms like Google have worked for media companies in Australia, and they may yet work in the U.S. if new legislation such as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is approved by Congress. But money must go to the grassroots, too. The goal, after all, is to produce genuine news of public interest about and from places otherwise forgotten or ignored.

Jan-Werner Mueller, a professor of politics at Princeton University, is the author, most recently, of Democracy Rules.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Opinion: How weakened local journalism created space for the ... - Yahoo News

Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma state superintendent, has taken to attacking teachers as he fights culture wars in public schools.

Ryan Walters, theOklahoma state superintendent, has taken to attacking teachers as he fights culture wars in public schools.

It was not particularly surprising that Ryan Walters declared Oklahoma schools wouldnt go woke under his leadership as he campaigned for a role that would give him power over the public school system. Many conservatives have championed so-called parental rights and claim they must protect kids from learning about such topics, like race and gender.

But since winning the election and taking over as state superintendent for public instruction, his plan for enacting his agenda attacking teachers and claiming that theyre the linchpin of the indoctrination going on in schools has rattled many people, including Republicans in his state.

The Oklahoma state superintendent is the head of the states Department of Education, oversees the school system, and is influential in the implementation of policies that dictates how the schools operate.

Walters used to be a teacher himself. He taught high school history before Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) appointed him to be the Oklahoma secretary of education in 2020. He stayed in that role until April, overseeing state boards of education and advising the governor on education policy, including during his first few months as superintendent.

Since being sworn in, Walters has made several appearances on Fox News,calling Oklahoma teachers Marxist over their support for pay equity and decisions they make about what books to have in their classrooms, and arguing that parents will be in charge of our educational system, not these woke teachers unions. He has compared teachers to terrorists and has told employees at the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) that theywill be fired if they leak to the media.

A handful of Republicans have accused Walters of being preoccupied with fighting culture wars rather than working on actual policies and budgeting things that could improve education in Oklahoma, a state that came in 49th in the national rankings (the most recent ranking available), according to a 2021 EdWeek report. Some rural schools in the state have adopted a four-day school week to save money. Lawmakers have recently approved a pay raise, but the education system is stillfacing a teacher shortage.

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I would have thought he and I would have agreed on 80% of things. ... His ego has gotten in the way of who he really is, said Republican state Rep. Mark McBride, the chair of the education subcommittee in the Oklahoma House.

I dont have the luxury of fighting the culture wars, McBride said. I need to do my job. Im focused on funding, on money.

Similarly, Republican state Sen. DeWayne Pemberton told the Enid News & Eagle in March that he thought Walters was too focused on cultural issues and that everything he comes out with is divisive.

Id like to see him settle down and actually start talking about reading and writing and arithmetic and how to bring up test scores and how we can make things better for teachers, Pemberton said.

Since Walters took office and began overseeing the OSDE, the department has lost several employees, including those who were in charge of applying for federal education grants from the U.S. Department of Education. At an Oklahoma House education subcommittee meeting in May, McBride said he was concerned that the agency had left money for low-income families on the table and that some schools could lose funding. When he asked Walters if his department had applied for the grants, Walters denied that his office failed to apply for grants and blamed his predecessor for problems his agency is facing. (The status of the federal grants remains unclear.)

He also quickly pivoted to attacking teachers.

I dont negotiate with folks who would sabotage our kids, Walters said. Thats a terrorist organization in my book.

This is the kind of rhetoric that McBride says goes too far. I have aunts, sisters, and so many family members who are teachers, he said. Hes calling my family terrorists and that bothers me.

The Oklahoma Education Association the teachers union pushed back on his incendiary rhetoric.

In less radical times, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction calling the educators who serve in our public school classrooms terrorists would be shocking, the union said in a statement. However, this inflammatory and demonizing rhetoric continues to escalate in ways that endanger our educators and undermine public education.

Id like to see him settle down and actually start talking about reading and writing and arithmetic and how to bring up test scores and how we can make things better for teachers.GOP state Sen. DeWayne Pemberton

At an OSDE meeting earlier this month, Walters showed attendees a public awareness campaign video that teachers said made them fear for their safety.

The video showed clips of speeches from the national teachers union urging its members to fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ children, as well as shots of pages from Maia Kobabes Gender Queer, a memoir about gender identity that has become a target of conservative ire. Interspersed with these clips were ones that alleged to show teachers defending child sexual abuse which many teachers saw as a warning that theyd be considered child abusers if they supported LGBTQ+ students.

It literally brought me to tears, a teacher named Jami Cole told a local Fox affiliate about the video. The only message that I saw from that is, Im coming for you teachers, and I felt threatened. I think thats the majority of teachers in that room, we all felt directly threatened.

Hearing that teachers were uncomfortable did not deter Walters. Liberal activist teachers have infiltrated the classroom and prefer to indoctrinate rather than educate our kids, he said in an email to HuffPost. Oklahoma has great teachers who do not impose social justice warrior points on kids.

I dont worry about weak RINOs that compromise our families rather than fight for our constitution, he wrote, using a term referring to Republicans in Name Only. Theyve sold their values for 30 pieces of silver to the radical teacher union. Theyd rather ignore porn in schools than take a stand for our children.

Walters claim that schools have porn is at the center of an ongoing battle about book-banning in the state.

Across the country, GOP officials have promoted the false notion that books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes are actually sexually explicit. Walters is no exception. He has supported bills that would allow for books to be removed from classrooms, as well as a measure passed in 2021 that bars educators from teaching that any race or gender is superior to another. That law specifically bans critical race theory a college-level academic theory about how racism has shaped public policies in Oklahoma schools.

At a hearing last month, one Republican told Walters that the superintendent was overly concerned about the threat of CRT in classrooms.

Critical race theory, while I dont like it, its neo-Marxist its highly technical, state Rep. Marcus McEntire said. Its a literary criticism is what it is. Im worried that your use of CRT, that youre broadening it to what its not.

After months of Walters claiming that school libraries had porn, OSDE passed a rule banning sexually explicit material from schools, without defining what was considered in violation of the rule. In April, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the agency had overstepped by not going through the legislature for rule-making and that the new rules could not go into effect

This is a talking point and I dont think this is happening in Oklahoma, but I dont know if it is, McBride told a local Fox affiliate at the time, referring to schools allowing pornographic materials. Show me. I wanna see it. He formally asked Walters to a House education subcommittee meeting to show McBride the materials he was worried about. Walters has not done so.

Like many districts across the country, Oklahoma schools already have a protocol for challenging books, and parents are allowed to keep their child from accessing certain materials. McBride said he believes in some censorship in schools but that the policies in place are sufficient and that Walters tactics are unnecessary.

You can have a conversation about books, but you dont need to go on Fox News about it, he said. You dont need to be tweeting, you dont need to call teachers terrorists.

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Ryan Walters Is Embracing The Culture Wars, But Even Some Republicans Think He Has Gone Too Far - Yahoo News

Political life seems stale, even with the dramatic scandals. Despite their different views on constitutional matters, our politicians are mostly a homogenous, professional class, serving the interests of the same broad group in society, albeit with a degree of tinkering to the left or right.

For left-wingers like me, there are few prospects of genuine, radical change on the horizon. At the most recent budget, Kate Forbes claimed the SNPs hands were tied by the financial restrictions placed on our parliament by Westminster. And annoyingly, it is partly true, which is why were in such a bind. Personally, thats why Im still in favour of independence: cutting out the middle-man would help hold our own political class to account.

When I spoke to The Herald about this columns themes, it was suggested I might give an optimistic look at our political landscape. Of course, I did laugh. Because over the last few years, I have become jaded about the seemingly intractable political stagnation, not just in Scotland but across much of world politics, and Ive had my moments of doubt about the prospects for a better society. But my own feelings cant disguise the fact that change is still necessary.

Read more:Ex-SNP MSP backs pro-independence election pact

Poverty, alienation and powerlessness are causing real damage in homes workplaces and communities. For a moment in 2014, ordinary people, some from the most deprived areas of deindustrialised Scotland, sensed their own power: now even that feels like vague retrospection. Much of that positive post-indyref energy across the country has been squandered by politicians. But its not just about independence, either. Most western governments have become detached from the majority of people, leaving career politicians, lobbyists and bureaucrats ruling over what Peter Mair called the void between people and politics.

And its obvious why many like me are jaded; major opportunities for a different future like independence- are now long gone. I dont believe there will be a referendum in October and with each passing day, each passing scandal, I become more and more convinced its a carrot dangling from an electoral-strategy-stick.

In preparation for writing this piece, I reread my old columns from 2016 and realised that I had often fallen into a trap I now try to avoid: the desire to Be Right All The Time isnt very useful. Social media feeds, comment pieces and news reports are full of a righteousness that can hinder curiosity and debate. Ive had to ask myself, on many topics: is there a possibility that I might be wrong here? Capacity for doubt and self-reflection is lacking in political life. For me, combining self-reflection with principles and pragmatism is important if we want to arrest the democratic malaise.

That means being optimistic in a Scottish newspaper column about Scottish politics, as a pro-independence socialist, is a definite challenge. But one I cant resist, because Ive seen what hope can do for people and without it, whats the point in anything? So this column is for you: the politically depressed, downhearted, despondent and doubtful. I imagine we are legion.

Is there a way to navigate through this period of inane and performative professional politics with hope for the future? Perhaps. My gut says we must find one. So here is my first idea: lets consider that the "culture war"is unwinnable. Issues like sex and gender, mask-wearing during Covid and addressing underrepresentation in Hollywood have become singular dividing lines, instead of the greatest divide of all: the wealth and power gap.

The culture wars right-wing are seeking to preserve their fantasy of a "lost way of life". The culture-war left think that winning the war means existing social hierarchies can be destroyed and new ones established in their place. But whilst the richest continue to profit from low wages, non-unionised workforces, privatisation of public services and exploitation of our natural resources, any new social order would only replicate the core problems of our current system. Even conservatives who purport to uphold traditional values cannot deny the difficulties in having a family, when the money in your pocket seems to stretch less and less and decent, affordable housing is harder and harder to come by.

Im not saying culture war issues dont matter: its just seems more like an Olympic racetrack than a battlefield. Runners go round and round until its hard to tell whos in the front, and whos in the back: everyone loses perspective. When we lose perspective, its easy to become disenchanted and distracted.

Read more:Holyrood is a parliament of the middle class for the middle class

I strongly fear this argument wont make me very popular, so I tested the idea of political life beyond the culture war on myself. Think of a group, who despise your very existence, that of your familyand your communities but with whom you could possibly find common cause with over the injustice like poverty in a developed nation. Im a Catholic from an Irish background in Scotland, so this is fairly straightforward: the Orange Order. Could I fight for economic change with people who hate me? I dont know. Its not like I have the institutional power of the Church behind me either. My support for equal marriage and a womans right to choose are at odds with Catholic teachings. Can those in the Church, who agree with me on economic matters, find common ground between us, despite views they may find contemptible? Maybe.

This argument is true for the question of independence too. With a referendum off the table, people who want independence as a route to real social transformation could, for example, make peace with socialists in Scottish Labour, like Neil Findlay. By the same token, other Labour leftists must realise that support for independence isnt going to just go away and that, often, our core motivations are still economic justice and democracy.

It would be dishonest to pretend forgiveness and open-mindedness are easy endeavours. It is incredibly hard to find common cause with those we dislike, disagree with, those who hate us, who slander and threaten us. But, truthfully, if I want to be optimistic, I have to be willing to try. Ordinary people only have one strategic advantage against obscenely rich and powerful interests: sheer, raw numbers. And I can find some hope in that.

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Progressive indy supporters need to shun the culture wars ... - HeraldScotland

Rodin Eckenroth / Stringer

Rodin Eckenroth / Stringer

There's been a common theme swirling throughout the culture wars: from gun policy, to drag bans, to talking about race - the innocence of children is always at the center of discussion.

This week, we're exploring the ideas and systems around childhood. We learn why we first drew the line between child and adult, why the line is so jagged and what implications this has on our lives today. We hear from a few kids themselves, then host Brittany Luse is joined by historian Jules Gill-Peterson and author Sophie Lewis. Last, Brittany chats with children's therapist Gerri Cadet Mareus about cultivating kids' autonomy by turning conflicts at home into opportunities to work together.

This episode was produced by Liam McBain. It was edited by Jessica Placzek. We had fact checking help from Susie Cummings. Engineering support came from Neil Tevault and Gilly Moon. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni and our senior VP of programming is Anya Grundmann.

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The culture wars are fought over children, but what does childhood ... - NPR

By the Editorial Board

Corporate America has been in uncharted territory for a while now as it tries to navigate todays increasingly heated culture wars. Nowhere has that fact been driven home more shockingly than with Bud Lights recent dethroning as Americas No.1-selling beer.

Its certainly not the first iconic company to get entangled in these political thickets witness Disney, Target, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A but Bud Lights dilemma may be the most instructive example yet of just how thoroughly todays political polarization has impacted every facet of the culture.

The controversy began in April, when the company provided transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney with a can of Bud Light with an image of her face on it, which she displayed on social media as she endorsed the beer.

Its important to note because this part of the story has been grossly misrepresented during the entire debate that this wasnt part of any formal ad campaign by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Dylan Mulvaney cans werent for sale anywhere. It was one face on one can, displayed on one individuals social media accounts.

Which makes the storm that followed even more bizarre, if thats possible. Conservative activists and politicians seized on it as an example of a big company rubbing our faces in LGBTQ culture, in the ever-tolerant words of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Which is ironic, considering it was actually conservatives who have promoted the Mulvaney endorsement (again: one can) out of its progressive social-media niche and onto the cultural front lines.

Kid Rock famously, or infamously, shot up cases of Bud Light to express the ire of the right. A group of female Republican governors released a wince-inducing video about real women of politics, which confirmed that outright bigotry is still considered funny in some circles. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, never one to miss an opportunity to demagogue, declared on Twitter that woke globalists are ruining a great company.

The other shoe dropped last week, when monthly sales figures confirmed that Bud Light in May lost the top-in-the-nation sales crown that it has worn for more than two decades. As the Post-Dispatchs Daniel Neman reported, Bud Light remains the top-selling beer for the year to date on the strength of its pre-controversy sales. But that only matters if the company can pull the nose up on the current sales plunge going forward.

Theres little doubt the beer maker largely brought this storm down on itself by badly misreading its own customer base. One of its own vice presidents tried to explain the Mulvaney endorsement as an attempt to update traditional Bud Light branding that has been kind of a fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor confirming that the company understood how poorly its core customers would receive such an endorsement even as it insulted them again.

In short, you dont have to buy into the intolerant narrative of the Bud Light boycott to marvel at how supremely the brewer screwed up here. Not by displaying tolerance for a transgender personality, but thinking it could do it under the radar and thus have it both ways keeping its old customers while wooing new ones from the other side of the cultural fence.

Unfortunately, America today isnt a country where liberals and conservatives can just agree to disagree on much of anything. Even beer.

Anheuser-Buschs announcement last week that it will offer financial assistance to its distributors and others affected by the boycott is the responsible thing to do, and a good example of corporate level-headedness in a crisis. And the companys quick retreat from the culture-war battlefield We hear you, A-B CEO Brendan Whitworth wrote to customers in vowing to just get back to the business of beer is about the only move it could have made at this point.

If that retreat has angered the LGBTQ community and its supporters (reportedly it has), that begs the question of just what they thought they were getting from a company that, like virtually every company, is ultimately interested only in the bottom line. As Slate noted recently, rainbow-washed corporations are fair-weather allies.

Other examples of that phenomenon include Targets apparent decision to deemphasize its annual June rainbow-themed merchandise in the wake of a truly despicable harassment campaign by right-wing bigots against its employees. Starbucks has been accused of similarly wavering in its traditional support for the LGBTQ community by removing rainbow decorations from stores (the company denies it).

What does it look like when a big corporation actually stays the course on these turbulent seas? It looks like, of all things, Disney. The companys epic legal and cultural fight with DeSantis over Floridas law muzzling classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues isnt for show. They mean it.

But there are some important differences there. The company is under intense pressure from its own massive workforce not to back down. Also, theres no discernible public boycott movement afoot to, say, stop visiting Disney World. Unlike getting on the wrong side of half the country, confronting one blustery bully of a politician could actually be good for Disneys image.

What lesson should the LGBTQ community and its supporters take from all of this? Only that businesses are in business to make money. Yes, their employment practices should reflect the growing acceptance that America celebrates during Pride month every June. But the real (and remaining) work of mainstreaming that acceptance has to come from citizens, not corporations. Love is love, as they say and ultimately, beer is just beer.

Views from the editorial board, opinions from guest and national columnists plus the latest letters from our readers.

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Editorial: Love is love and beer is just beer - St. Louis Post-Dispatch