John Nichols and Bob McChesney join Laura Flanders on GRIT TV to discuss their book The Death and Life of American Journalism and the future of America’s media. Nichols explains that their book is not simply about a media crisis but also about the “infrastructure of democracy. The structures by which we inform citizens are collapsing,” Nichols says.

Nichols and McChesney argue that the government must play a role in fixing journalism by providing various subsidies for media outlets. “We can’t throw it to the market,” Nichols says. “We have to make sure that we establish a system that allows people very quickly and easily to start a media outlet and get it distributed.”

Journalists Tracy Van Slyke and Kate Giammarise also join the discussion to give their personal stories about the media crisis.

—Morgan Ashenfelter

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