Audio Transcript

Message from Alex Frandsen to the 22nd Century Initiative (People-Powered Democracy) Conference

Atlanta, Georgia | June, 2025

Hey everyone, I’m sorry I can’t join you in person in Atlanta, but I’m really glad I at least have the chance to share this recorded message with you all. My name is Alex Frandsen, and I’m the Journalism Program Manager at Free Press Action, where I work with community leaders and lawmakers to advance strong, equity-driven policies that support local news and civic information.

I also help lead a national coalition called the Media Power Collaborative—a network of more than 250 media leaders, journalists, and community leaders who are working hand-in-hand to shape a policy agenda for journalism that puts people and communities first.

And today, I really want to share one big idea with you: If you care about justice, democracy, or equity, you have a stake in the future of local journalism.

Here’s why I say that. At Free Press Action, our work really starts from one central truth: Local news is a true public good. Like clean water, safe roads, and good schools, it benefits everyone. And when it disappears, the harm ripples out across entire communities.

I don’t need to tell you all this, but right now we’re in the midst of a full-blown local news crisis. The collapse of advertising, the rise of platforms, and waves of corporate consolidation have totally gutted newsrooms, while the community-rooted, independent outlets that are closest to their communities are often left on the outside looking in—barely getting enough money to survive on a day-to-day basis.

This is not just a media story; it is a democracy story. Because we know that when communities lose trust in local news, voter turnout drops, civic engagement drops, corruption rises, people become more isolated, and misinformation rushes in to fill the voids that have emerged. These really are structural problems, and they call for structural solutions.

Totally fair question: Why should you—as someone in this room who cares about climate, housing, racial justice, education, or whatever your issue might be—why should you care about local news policy?

I would offer this: Because none of our work exists in a vacuum. Every movement relies on people being able to stay informed, connected, and civically engaged. If no one is covering your community, if people can’t access local information in the language they speak, or if misinformation is filling the voids that have emerged, your issue loses visibility and your community loses power. We know that strong local media isn’t just a “nice-to-have” thing; it’s really essential, core infrastructure for every justice movement that’s represented here.

Now, the good news here is that amid all the federal chaos, more and more state lawmakers are taking an interest in supporting local news. One really promising idea that we’ve been organizing behind is this concept of public grant-making for community media—essentially, public funding to support local news distributed through independent, community-rooted grant-making bodies.

For instance, we helped launch the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium. This was the first state-level public fund of its kind in the country to support local news. And in just a few short years, it’s already helped immensely in expanding coverage in underserved communities, training local journalists, and funding community-led storytelling. With the success of New Jersey, we’re seeing more and more states take a real interest in this idea of public investment in local news.

But, like many other issues, we should be clear: There are powerful forces that are working to move us in the opposite direction in these political debates. At the federal level, the current administration has launched attacks on public media. It’s threatened funding for NPR and PBS, which is often a lifeline for communities who have otherwise had their newspapers wiped out. And overall, it has signaled support for policies that would funnel more money towards the corporate media giants at the expense of nonprofit, community-rooted outlets we know we need more of.

This is not just a funding fight that we find ourselves in. It’s a fight over who gets to shape the public conversation, whose voices are heard, and whose voices are erased. We cannot afford to sit this one out because, really, here’s the bottom line: We know that we need a media system in this moment that is built around the needs of our communities, not the needs of corporate giants.

But community members are being sidelined in too many policy debates right now, while lobbyists and corporate influences are playing a leading role. As long as that’s true, these conversations about the future of our local media system—these changes that we’re desperately working towards—will forever remain out of reach.

That’s why we need you—advocates, organizers, and leaders in every issue area—to get active in this fight. Show up to public hearings, partner with local media in your community, and help tell the story of why trustworthy local journalism matters to your work and to the people that you’re serving.

If you want a place to plug into this fight, that’s really what we’re trying to provide at Free Press. With our national coalition, the Media Power Collaborative, we’re building a movement to rebalance our media system and restore power to communities. To win this fight, we need more voices at the table—plain and simple. We’re doing our best to build alliances between media leaders and community leaders, and we’re building the power we need to impact policy debates for the better.

But we need your help. I really hope that you’ll check out what we’re up to and that you’ll sign up for our email list at MediaPowerCollab.org. Again, that’s MediaPowerCollab.org.

I’ll leave you with this for now, since I’ve hit my five minutes: I know local news policy is not going to be the number one issue for many folks in this room, but I really encourage you to think of it as your second or third issue. Because we know that local news shapes every aspect of our ability to create change and connect with one another. If we want a media system that serves our democracy and not just the powerful, we all need to start showing up for it.

Thank you so much.