What the Knight Commission Report Says About Local Journalism

What the Knight Commission Report Says About Local Journalism

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy was created to explore the information health of communities. Its charge was to

  1. Articulate the information needs of a community in a democracy,
  2. Describe the state of things in the United States, and
  3. Propose public policy directions that would help lead us from where we are today to where we ought to be.1

The Commission concluded that the information needs of America’s communities “are being met unequally, community by community. Some populations have access to local news and other relevant information through daily newspapers, radio and television broadcasts, local cable news channels, hyper-local websites, services that connect to police reports and other sources of local information, blogs, and mobile alerts. Others are unserved or are woefully underserved.”2

The Commission said, “America needs a vision for ‘informed communities,’ places where the information ecology meets the personal and civic information needs of people. This means people have the information they need to take advantage of life’s opportunities for themselves and their families. It also means they can participate fully in our system of self-government, to stand up and be heard. Paramount in this vision are the critical democratic values of openness, inclusion, participation, empowerment, and the common pursuit of truth and the public interest.”

To achieve this, the Commission urged that the nation and its local communities pursue three ambitious objectives:

  • Maximize the availability of relevant and credible information to all Americans and their communities
  • Strengthen the capacity of individuals to engage with information
  • Promote individual engagement with information and the public life of the community

Communities, not the media or journalism, were the Commission’s focus.  But journalism is a thread that runs throughout its report. Indeed, in their foreword to the report, Alberto Ibargüen of the Knight Foundation and Walter Isaacson of the Aspen Institute made the point that “journalism matters.” They wrote:

While the Knight Commission did not set out to ‘save’ journalism, and its focus is on communications more generally, there is a clear understanding that we must find sustainable models that will support the kind of journalism that has informed Americans. The fair, accurate, contextual search for truth is a value worth preserving.4

The Commission itself declared that journalists are the primary intermediaries for news, and journalism is essential to community health. The report says:

Access to news and information is critical to democracy.  Journalists serve as watchdogs over public officials and institutions, as well as over the private and corporate sector. They provide information for citizens to run their lives, their communities, and their country. News organizations also foster civic understanding, engagement, and cohesion. When they work well, they help make communities open, officials accountable and publics engaged.

And,

The Commission recognizes that new technologies and techniques can bring more information to light and can complement or substitute for more traditional journalism. This is an evolving process. But in the end, the goals of journalism persist and remain vital. Someone needs to dig up the facts, hold people accountable and disseminate the news.5

The Commission said it understands journalism broadly to encompass “the gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”6

It noted that the main source of journalism throughout American history has been private enterprise. While embracing the importance of public media, the Commission said, “journalism supported by marketplace incentives—including both for-profit and not-for-profit models— is likely always to provide the lion’s share of original and verified reporting. The health of the private media sector is an important public-policy goal. So too is the independence of private media from governmental intervention on content grounds.”

While cautious not to romanticize the quality or performance of traditional news media, the Commission stressed the role of newspapers:

Newspapers may have their shortcomings, but in many communities, they have been for a century or longer the primary source of fair, accurate and independent news. They are usually the major provider of ‘beat’ and investigative journalism. They often set the news agenda for other community outlets, including both broadcast and new media.  They have been critical to how cities, towns and regions understand themselves and their circumstances.

Television and radio are also critical news sources, but are unlikely to offset fully any drop that local communities experience in original, verified newspaper reporting.  That is because the average radio station provides under an hour of daily news coverage,7 and television stations, even as they increase their news coverage, are doing so with fewer and less experienced journalists on staff.8

Thus, one cause for alarm is the financial plight of metropolitan daily newspapers. “The newspaper industry lost 100,000 jobs over the last decade, although this figure is hard to evaluate without knowing how many of those were journalists. The Project for Excellence in Journalism estimates that, from 2001 to the end of 2009, the total job loss among newspaper journalists will likely pass 14,000. That is roughly 25 percent of the industry’s news workforce lost in 9 years.9 It is no wonder that “whether and how to save newspapers” are questions much discussed across the blogosphere.”10

Yet, the Commission made two observations that are central to the recommendations in this white paper:

  • Journalistic institutions do not need saving so much as they need creating.
  • From the standpoint of public need, the challenge is not to preserve any particular medium. It is to promote the traditional public service functions of journalism.

The first observation is driven by the numbers. The Commission pointed out that the 2007 Newspaper Association of America count of daily newspapers in the United States was 1,422. At the same time, there are 3,248 counties, encompassing over 19,000 incorporated places and over 30,000 “minor civil divisions” having legal status, such as towns and villages.11

“It follows that hundreds, if not thousands of American communities receive only scant journalistic attention on a daily basis, and many have none. Even accounting for community weeklies—a 2004 survey identified 6,704 such papers nationwide12—it is likely that many American communities get no attention from print journalism at all.”13

The second observation prompted the Commission to say the key question is, “How can we advance quality, skilled journalism that contributes to healthy information ecologies in local communities?”14

Its answer is essentially, in every way possible and the possibilities are increasing dramatically.15The same digital network technology that is disrupting the business model that has supported American journalism for the past century “can lead to a new ecology of journalism in which reporters and their publics intermix in new ways.” What is needed, the Commission said, is “fresh thinking and new approaches to the gathering and sharing of news and information.” 16

The Commission applauded the extent to which some “legacy” media are experimenting with new forms of collaboration between full-time journalists and the public. “Among the most exciting aspects of the technology revolution is the opportunity it creates for emerging concepts like networked journalism17 and open source reporting.”18

At the same time, the Commission warned that “just because communities need journalism does not mean that consumers in the marketplace will generate enough revenue to support that journalism.”19 Newspapers’ revenues from advertising have fallen approximately 45 percent since 2000.  For example, classified advertising accounted for $19.6 billion in revenue for newspapers in 2000; $10.2 billion in 2008; and is estimated to be only $6.0 billion in 2009.20

The Commission commented, “The Internet and the fragmentation of media markets through the proliferation of new outlets have undermined this business model. These trends clearly call into question how communities and their citizens will pay for news and information in the future.”21

For this reason, the Commission asserted, public policies need to pursue a dual course of action:

  • Allow or encourage private market mechanisms to robustly serve community information needs.
  • Make some public investments in the creation and distribution of information.22

The Commission was simultaneously complimentary and critical of public media:

Public broadcasting in the United States has added a context and fullness to news and information during the past 40 years. But it has fallen short of its promise. Breakthroughs in children’s programming have not been mirrored in the information field. Simply put, our public media do not fully reflect the public nor engage with it sufficiently on the community level.

It is important now for public policy in the digital age to play a more determined role in enhancing the performance of public broadcasting in local news. Public broadcasting needs to move quickly toward a broader vision of public service media, one that is more local, more inclusive, and more interactive. This means pursuing greater integration of new technologies and communication practices with traditional forms of broadcasting. It means using digital platforms to engage local institutions effectively in the public sphere. To advance this, government as well as private sector donors should condition their support of public media on its reform. They should support the creating, curating, and archiving of public media content on the community level.”23

The Commission ultimately called for both increased support for public service media and for public media to provide better local news and information.

Finally, the Commission urged experimentation to create abundant forms of journalism on many platforms. Technology is opening amazing possibilities to give people convenient access to both civic and life-enhancing information, without regard to income or social status. For-profit media organizations can reinvent themselves to extend the role and values of journalism. Not-for-profit and non-traditional media can be important sources of journalism. Government at all levels can contribute in many meaningful ways without undercutting the freedom and independence necessary for journalism to do its job. The public should demand and support information that is relevant and credible, and people should participate in creating it.

Five of the Commission’s 15 recommendations deal directly with media and journalism:

  • Recommendation 1: Direct media policy toward innovation, competition and support for business models that provide marketplace incentives for quality journalism.
  • Recommendation 2: Increase support for public service media aimed at meeting community information needs.
  • Recommendation 3: Increase the role of higher education, community and non-profit institutions as hubs of journalistic activity and other information-sharing for local communities.
  • Recommendation 10: Support the activities of information providers to reach local audiences with quality content through all appropriate media, such as mobile phones, radio, public access cable, and new platforms.
  • Recommendation 11: Expand local media initiatives to reflect the full reality of the communities they represent.

Other recommendations don’t address journalism per se, but they do speak to the ability of journalists to do their jobs and the capacity of the public to engage meaningfully in the functions of journalism:

  • Recommendation 4: Require government at all levels to operate transparently, facilitate easy and low-cost access to public records, and make civic and social data available in standardized formats that support the productive public use of such data.
  • Recommendation 5: Develop systematic quality measures of community information ecologies, and study how they affect social outcomes.
  • Recommendation 6: Integrate digital and media literacy as critical elements for education at all levels through collaboration among federal, state, and local education officials.

In concluding and calling for action, the Commission said:

To thrive in a democracy, America’s local communities need information ecologies that support both individual and collective community life. They need accurate, relevant news and information to fuel the common pursuit of the truth and the public interest. Improving local ecologies requires public policies that support the production and dissemination of relevant and credible information, enhance the capacity of individuals to engage with information, and promote people’s engagement with information and with one another. Informed communities require well-designed strategies to make these objectives a reality.24


End Notes

1. The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. (2009). Informing communities: Sustaining democracy in the digital Age (p. I). Washington, DC: Aspen Institute. Retrieved from http://www.knightcomm.org/read-the-report-and-comment/

2. Ibid., p. 26.

3. Ibid., p. 2.

4. Ibid., p. III.

5. Ibid., pp. 14–15.

6. Ibid., End note 22: “ This is how the Free Flow of Information Act of 2009, H.R. 985, 111th Cong., 1st Sess. (2009), the proposed federal journalist shield law recently approved by the House of Representatives, defines journalism.”

7. Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, (2009). Audio—News Investment. InThe State of the News Media 2009.Retrieved from http://stateofthemedia.org/2009/audio-intro/news-investment/

8. Radio Television Digital News Association. (2009, April 19).Television news jobs and salaries decline as amount of news increases, RTNDA/Hofstra University survey shows [Press release].Retrieved from http://www.rtnda.org/pages/posts/television-news-jobs-and-salaries-decline-as-amount-of-news-increases-rtndahofstrauniversity-survey-shows481.php.

9. Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, (2009) Newspapers—News Investment. In The State of the News Media 2009.Retrieved from
http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/narrative_newspapers_newsinvestment.php?cat=4&media=4.

10. Knight Commission Report, p. 26.

11. U.S. Census Bureau. (2005).Geographic overview. In Geographic areas reference manual. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/geo/www/GARM/Ch2GARM.pdf.

12. Circulation of U.S. community weekly newspapers by circulation groups. (2009). Editor& Publisher. Retrieved from http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/images/pdf/US%20Weekly%20Circ.%20by%20Circ.pdf.

13. Knight Commission Report, p. 27.

14. Ibid., p. 27.

15. Ibid., at 26. “Throughout the 20th century, the practice of journalism found numerous outlets. Mainstream daily newspapers, community weeklies, the ethnic and alternative press, private and public radio and television, and cable news organizations have all been part of the mix. These media are now joined by an expanding array of online sources. Some new media resemble their pre-digital forebears. Others more closely resemble social networking sites and collaboratively gather, edit, and disseminate information.”

16. Ibid., p. 28.

17. Ibid. “Some journalism organizations are already using network technologies to address cuts in coverage of local news. Among the most exciting aspects of the technology revolution is the opportunity it creates for emerging concepts like networked journalism and open source reporting.(See generally Charlie Beckett, SuperMedia: Saving Journalism So It Can Save the World[2008]).We have already seen the rise of “citizen journalists.” These are nonprofessionals who use commonly available text, audio and video tools to create their own news stories or contribute to others. There are likewise “citizen editors,” bloggers who collect news stories created by others that they believe are most interesting and relevant to a potential audience. A next stage is emerging with new forms of collaboration between full-time journalists and the general citizenry.”

18. Ibid. “Networked journalism allows news enterprises to reorganize so that full-time staff members act as nodes for networks of citizen participants who cover every “beat” conceivably relevant to the news organization’s audience. Through networked journalism, technology can enable a diffusion of the news-gathering functions, creating greater coverage of local affairs. Technology also permits new depth in local news. In ‘open source reporting,’ reporters, editors and large groups of users all work on the same story.” “Jay Rosen, the founder and director of NewAssignment.net, writes, ‘At New Assignment, pros and amateurs cooperate to produce work that neither could manage alone. The site uses open source methods to develop good assignments and help bring them to completion. It pays professional journalists to carry the project home and set high standards; they work closely with users who have something to contribute. The betting is that (some) people will donate to stories they can see are going to be great because the open methods allow for that glimpse ahead.” (quoted from Jay Rosen, Welcome to NewAssignment.Net, [Aug. 19, 2006] available at http://www.newassignment.net/blog/jay_rosen/welcome_to_newassignment_net.)

19. Ibid., p. 15. “Specialized publications, whether for investment counseling or restaurant reviews, can be market-supported. But subscriptions alone have never supported and are not likely ever to pay the full cost of gathering and disseminating general local news. In the 20th century, advertising compensated for much of the shortfall because advertisers were willing to pay substantial sums to newspapers and local broadcast stations to reach their audiences.”

20. Pew Project ForExcellence in Journalism, The State of the News Media: An Annual Report 2010. (citing Newspaper Association of America, Trends and Numbers, and for fourth quarter 2009, estimates by Rick Edmonds), available at http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/printable_newspaper_chapter.htm).

21. Knight Commission Report, p 21.

22. Ibid., p. 16.

23. Ibid., pp. 35–36. “Like private media, public broadcasting in the United States has a mixed history of providing local news and information. On the one hand, a 2007 Roper opinion poll found that nearly half of all Americans trust the Public Broadcasting Service “a great deal,” higher than the numbers rating commercial television and newspapers.(Citing PBS Research, Roper Public Opinion Poll on PBS: 2007 vs. Past Years, available at http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/pbsfoundation/news/pastroperpolls.pdf.) On the other hand, with some notable exceptions, public broadcasting in America has been widely criticized as being insufficiently local or diverse. Public stations do not have a strong record of spearheading local investigative journalism, and most public radio broadcasters have little or no local news reporting staff. Finally, again with some promising exceptions, local public stations have failed to embrace digital innovations as a way to better connect with their communities.” (Citing National Public Radio, Final Report to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation re: Local News Initiative: Research and Planning Phase, June 2006.)

24. Ibid., p 62.

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