I believed the problematic “information vouchers” proposal was useless, after Seattle activist Katie Wilson couldn’t discover sufficient assist to place it earlier than voters.
Nevertheless it’s now again as a plank in Wilson’s surprisingly robust marketing campaign for mayor.
“That is a part of the rationale why I’m working for mayor,” Wilson stated in an August podcast discussing information vouchers.
Wilson’s marketing campaign is pitching information vouchers as a strategy to “Trump-proof” Seattle.
That’s about as possible as Mexico paying for the border wall. It additionally does the other of what it guarantees, by injecting Trump’s specter into a neighborhood problem the place he’s irrelevant, and doubtlessly goading him to reply. However it might nonetheless resonate with distraught voters in search of something that sounds anti-Trump.
Politics apart, I think news vouchers are a bad idea, despite the fact that they’re proposed as a strategy to strengthen impartial journalism.
First, two wrongs don’t make a proper.
The vouchers are a spinoff of the “democracy vouchers” program that Seattle created in 2015. It levies a property tax to fund $25 vouchers mailed to residents who can donate as much as 4 of them to political campaigns.
Voters renewed this system in August regardless of its dismal efficiency. It sells nicely, as a result of it purports to empower voters and offset the affect of huge cash in elections. Nevertheless it hasn’t lived as much as the platitudes.
In previous elections fewer than 10% of residents used the vouchers, which means Seattle’s principally producing the world’s most costly unsolicited mail. A rising share of the taxes is used to prod residents to take part. Vouchers have but to blunt the affect of big-spending PACs on Seattle elections however they’ve benefited insiders and enriched some consultants.
In brief, Seattle’s 800,000 residents will find yourself spending $75 million on a feel-good failure.
Wilson has proposed taking round $10 million from Seattle taxpayers to fund information vouchers. Particulars aren’t last however residents might get two or three $50 “information notes” to donate to native retailers.
Her marketing campaign web site says round $9 million may assist 50 new reporters. That works out to $180,000 apiece so maybe I ought to be a part of her campaign.
But when the democracy vouchers are a information, a pile will go to Metropolis Corridor overhead and most coupons will find yourself within the bin.
One other 50 reporters sounds good however don’t be fooled into considering that is “a viable journalism funding mannequin for the twenty first century,” because the marketing campaign says.
Municipal property taxes will not be the best way to revive the journalism trade. They take an excessive amount of from a restricted tax base and supply too little in return.
I’ve advocated for presidency assist of the information trade however on the federal or state stage. Metropolis-funded information is extra susceptible to corruption and influencing, or no less than will create that impression greater than federal subsidies.
Seattle’s information vouchers would undermine rising enterprise fashions which might be stabilizing native information. Greater than 90% of native reporting is finished by for-profit retailers more and more depending on subscription income.
Wilson initially insisted that voucher-supported information tales have to be given away at no cost. That might fracture the paywalls funding most newsroom jobs whereas boosting opponents with out paywalls.
On the podcast she stated she’s softened her stance on paywalls, which is sweet. However the satan’s within the particulars.
Based mostly on how this system was developed, I believe the most important beneficiaries might be partisan, area of interest retailers that advance political narratives favored by Wilson and voucher proponents.
That end result would undermine belief within the independence of native information. As an alternative of pioneering native options to massive nationwide issues, as Wilson’s marketing campaign suggests, that may jeopardize efforts to assist journalism the place it’s most wanted: rural and suburban information deserts.
Maybe I’m overly suspicious. Wilson might really simply wish to assist native journalism.
However I can’t shake the sensation that she’s not being absolutely clear, identical to she’s been obscure about how she’s stayed afloat as an activist working a money-losing lobbying group.
The voucher effort factors to some affiliations.
Each democracy vouchers and information vouchers have been dreamed up by progressive East Coast politicos and think-tanks aligned with massive labor. They’ve used Seattle as a sandbox to check costly coverage concepts as a result of its beneficiant and empathetic voters can’t say no when their buttons are pushed.
Certainly one of these proponents, the Heart for Financial and Coverage Analysis, hosted the August podcast with Wilson. Its economist, Dean Baker, talked about that he and others have been pushing information vouchers for years, some because the Nineteen Nineties.
“Success has many fathers,” Wilson joked in response.
Wilson instructed Baker she was unable to seek out sufficient legislative assist or donors to again an initiative for information vouchers. That’s one other purple flag.
A political committee fashioned in 2024 to pursue the initiative did obtain $20,000 in June from Actual Change, a nonprofit that publishes a weekly newspaper supporting the homeless inhabitants. Wilson referred to as it out through the podcast as an enthusiastic supporter of reports vouchers.
Actual Change can also be a lobbying group aligned with Wilson. A couple of third of its program spending went to advocacy and organizing, based on its newest tax report, together with advocating for “progressive income sources” which might be Wilson’s cornerstone problem.
I respect Actual Change’s work to empower low-income residents and publish a newspaper.
However I’ve an issue with persuading taxpayers to “save native information” and having the proceeds — deliberately or not, straight or not directly — assist lobbying for a mayor’s causes.
That’s an instance of why Wilson’s information voucher proposal is problematic. It sounds good on the floor however the nearer you look the more severe it appears, and also you might not be getting the complete story.
