Journalism is just one of the industries hard-hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic. While we reimagine journalism’s structures and funding models, what role might the government play in intervening to support the role of a functioning press—not just someday, but now? In a new report published by the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina, Penny Abernathy—a collaborator on our Cutback Tracker project—underlines the stakes. Since 2005, more than a quarter of the country’s newspapers have disappeared. In the same fifteen-year span, the number of local journalists working in newsrooms has dropped by...