It is a multi-dimensional problem. Jobs and careers are gone from the news industry, and it is a blow to the value of relevant skills–and probably those who teach them. Coverage and communications can be quite unreliable, or harmful. These are all reasons to consider doing away with Section 230 protections of digital information service providers.
Still, relevant companies, specifically including Google, Facebook, and Monster, are backing an organization known as the Local Media Consortium. It owns a web site. The effort is toward getting donors, subscribers, and other forms of support for local news during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apparently it is true that the illness has had a harsh effect on some media. Stress is widely reported. The Local Media Consortium correctly identifies it and offers help. However, the endeavor appears to make no mention of the most persistent difficulties.
Obviously, the importance of the cause is not the issue. The problem is that it is just another instance of moneyed interest acknowledging destruction in a way that does not identify itself as behind it. This is in some ways comparable to Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post, with what must have amounted to pocket change for him. Only Bezos’ Amazon.com probably does not directly pressure the newspaper industry as severely as other corporations.
It is the members of the Local Media Consortium who are on the other side of that process. Thus, results could be achieved by eliminating safeguards that they do not need. Yes, there would be challenges, and the online companies might not be as profitable. A viable solution to persistent difficulties would be worthwhile.
8/2/20 Evidently this is an issue in Australia