Saturday, January 9, 2016

Michigan’s MLive cuts 29 positions in latest ‘restructuring’ - Columbia Journalism Review

I'm worried about journalism, if CJR is writing about it, too.
The need for transparency, enterprise, and clear, comprehensive coverage of public affairs is ever more acute. In 2013, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law that protects the anonymity of donors to political “issue ads” that can freely praise or criticize candidates. As CPI noted, there are no laws in Michigan that require public financial disclosures by elected officials. There are also no laws preventing term-limited lawmakers from going to work for the businesses they may have advocated for while in office. And on the same day that MLive announced its restructuring, Gov. Snyder signed a law that restricts public officials from discussing ballot proposals in the two months before an election—a move critics have called a gag order on, say, public libraries that might have wanted to print material or host a town hall about an upcoming millage.
In the face of this culture, journalism is not just a matter of business; it is a democratic urgency. We can’t afford to give up any more ground.
Michigan’s MLive cuts 29 positions in latest ‘restructuring’ - Columbia Journalism Review

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