According to the December 2023 Challenger Report, which tracts job cuts and hiring, more than 3,000 digital, broadcast, and print news jobs were lost last year. In response to the dwindling newsroom, three  legislative Democrats introduced a package of bills to bolster the industry in Wisconsin.  The package, which consists of three bills would create a state tax credit for Wisconsinites who subscribe to newspapers, a state-funded fellowship program for early-career journalists, and a new Wisconsin Civic Information Consortium Board to distribute grant funding around the state. The bills didn’t go anywhere last session, but Tone Madison‘s Scott Gordon says they are a “flawed but useful starting point.”

Scott joins host Christina Lieffring to break down the bills and discuss the challenges facing journalism writ large. Jason Alcorn, Vice President of the American Journalism Project (AJP), also joins the show to offer a national perspective. Together they discuss funding transparency, the shrinking of traditional newspapers, and rise of non-profit and privately-owned newsrooms. 

Jason Alcorn is the Vice President of the American Journalism Project. He works closely with several of  local nonprofit grant-recipient news organizations across the country, including Wisconsin Watch. Previously, Jason was project director for NewsMatch, a national campaign that has helped raise more than $100 million for nonprofit newsrooms.

Scott Gordon is Editor-in-chief and publisher of Tone Madison which he cofounded in 2014. Previously, his writing has been seen in The A.V. Club, Dane101, Isthmus, and WisContext.

Photo by Utsav Srestha on Unsplash

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