{"id":329382,"date":"2026-05-23T13:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329382\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T13:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:33:09","slug":"californias-journalism-fund-wasnt-meant-only-for-its-biggest-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329382\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s journalism fund wasn\u2019t meant only for its biggest players"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>To the editor: The role of government is not to pick winners and losers in journalism, which is precisely why the California Civic Media Program was designed with independent safeguards from the outset (<a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2026-05-18\/california-civic-media-program-large-publishers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cEnsure that California\u2019s journalism fund supports key players,\u201d<\/a> May 18). Funding decisions will ultimately be made by an independent third-party administrator, not by state officials or political appointees.<\/p>\n<p>The program also followed the Legislature\u2019s direction in the creation of a nine-member advisory committee, which has continuously emphasized expanding access to local, ethnic and community media, particularly in underserved communities and regions with limited local news coverage \u2014 goals enshrined in the program\u2019s statute. Furthermore, it says the advisory board \u201cmay consider\u201d awarding funds based on the number of journalists an organization employs \u2014 but in no way requires it.<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the California Civic Media Program was never simply to preserve the state\u2019s largest publishers, although they are critical. It was to help close information gaps, strengthen newsroom sustainability and ensure more Californians have access to accurate, well-sourced local reporting that empowers participation in civic life and builds stronger communities across the state. At a time when local journalism is struggling nationwide, California is working hard to help sustain and strengthen it for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>Dee Dee Myers, Sacramento<br \/>This writer is director of the Governor\u2019s Office of Business and Economic Development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the editor: The role of government is not to pick winners and losers in journalism, which is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4329,136784,7,136783,9,8,78990,2072,136782,24822,136785,4576,50007,10263,121,7827,18672],"class_list":["post-329382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-access","tag-big-player","tag-california","tag-california-civic-media-program","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-dee-dee-myers","tag-editor","tag-journalism-fund","tag-journalist","tag-limited-local-news-coverage","tag-program","tag-purpose","tag-region","tag-sacramento","tag-state-official","tag-writer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}