Not-for-profit journalism is the hope for democracy

How can we improve local news, and why should we?

Go not-for-profit, because our democracy depends on it.

I'm an idealist who majored in journalism because I believe informed citizens become good citizens. So, do I think the local news media in Seattle make us better citizens?

There was a time it did. The problem today lies in the for-profit model of journalism. It's become a business .... the business of attracting eyeballs to the screen to sell advertising. So we get news we can't look away from, like murders, car crashes and the misdeeds of celebrities. Compared to the past, investigative journalism barely exists in Seattle.

The answer is not-for-profit journalism, such as ProPublica (winner of two Pulitzers) and NPR. I think the public sees the difference. A recent poll found PBS was the only outlet that more people trust than distrust.

While I'm on my soap-box, a couple more comments on journalism and democracy:

• Balanced news? News outlets started feeling they must present both sides to a story in order to appear balanced. For the longest time, news outlets felt they had to balance news about climate change by including quotes from climate change deniers, even though deniers had little credibility, which news outlets never pointed out. This made the public doubt climate change. This made it politically unpopular for members of Congress to acknowledge climate change.

• I disagree that we should let the public decide what is news. We would end up with eye-candy and a failing democracy. With news outlets driven by profit, aren't we heading that way?