Responsibilities of the state: Rethinking the case and possibilities for public support of journalism

Abstract

There is general consensus that the press is undergoing a fundamental shift in how it functions as a profession, a business, and a social institution due, in part, to the proliferation and practices of online networked media. But there is still little understanding of exactly how this shift can and should relate to journalism’s role as a public–facing profession that produces and vets information using logics other than those offered by markets. We explore one aspect of this issue here by developing an argument for how and why the state might support online, networked journalism, arguing that the press is a unique guardian of the public interest and presenting ways in which it might help to create a robust online public sphere.