Can Treating Journalism Like Public Infrastructure Fix Our Broken Media?

As newspapers disappear and hedge funds hollow out newsrooms, state governments are experimenting with public funding models to preserve accountability reporting.

Today’s newsletter was originally published at DAME Magazine. You can click here to read it for free on their site, or, if you’re a paid subscriber to The Present Age, enjoy the full version below.

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In September 2025, when ICE agents began rolling through Chicago neighborhoods as part of an operation the Department of Homeland Security called Operation Midway Blitz, the city’s residents needed someone to tell them what was happening. Not federal officials, who would refuse to disclose who was being arrested or why. Not the White House, whose press releases ran the propaganda, not the receipts. Just a reporter willing to stand outside a courthouse, count the unmarked vehicles, and write down what she saw.

Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom that covers neighborhoods most legacy outlets ignore, had four reporters shot with pepper balls and tear-gassed by federal agents at a Broadview detention facility. It joined other Chicago news organizations in suing the Department of Homeland Security over First Amendment violations. They put up “know your rights” guides, launched a WhatsApp channel for ICE updates, partnered with other Chicago newsrooms to track sightings on Signal. Their analysis of federal ICE data eventually showed that more than 60 percent of ICE arrests in Illinois did not involve a criminal charge or conviction.