Buttigieg Offers Fresh Rationale For Importance of Local News

During an appearance on HBO’s Bill Maher Show last month, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg presented a fresh perspective on the importance of local news. “I love local news,” he said, “because it provides a great space, one of the last, in which all sides of an issue talk about the same reality, while circles of belonging and information are overlapping instead of concentric.” So, even heated issues bring people with differing views into the same conversation. This is in contrast to the lack of any shared reality between sides on a national scale. So, even though 60-70 percent agree on one side, the lack of a space for working on that leads to the loss of an ability to cogently express that and argue it out.

Smart words, as usual, Secretary Buttagieg! He remains in the running as Kamala Harris’ running mate, which will be announced soon, due not only to his clear talent, but because he is very close to Harris. 

Another take on the value of news institutions, like newspapers of all sizes, came from the co-founders of TollBit writing in today’s Washington Post. They argue that reliable news sources are indispensable for helping to steer the coming AI revolution in the right direction. “Most of the AI companies, they wrote, rely on content available on the open internet rather than news articles or scientific publications that are accessible only through paywalls…Without the constant replenishment of top-notch reporting, they indicate, smart analysis and reliable data, AI chatbots simply don’t work well. “They need information from large-scale publishers and smaller reliable sources with different perspectives…Niche and local reporting are essential to nourish a healthy content ecosystem.”