This commentary by Oakland Voices founder Martin G. Reynolds originally appeared on CalMatters
Last year, California did something remarkable.
The state made a groundbreaking $15 million public investment in local and ethnic media through the California Local News Fellowship and Propel Initiative.
The Legislature recognized what communities across the state already know: trusted local news is essential to a healthy democracy, informed communities, and a functioning society.
California is heading into a period of enormous change. This is exactly when people need access to trusted local news and information. Martin G. Reynolds
Today, that investment is at risk. Funding for both programs was omitted from the Legislature’s proposed budget, and unless Senate and Assembly leaders and the Governor act before the budget is finalized, that momentum could come to a halt just as the work is beginning to show results.
California is heading into a period of enormous change. Communities are navigating economic uncertainty, political turmoil, climate change, rapid technological advancement and an increasingly complex information environment. In the coming year, Californians will elect a new governor and make decisions that will shape the future of our state for years to come.
This is exactly when people need access to trusted local news and information.
Instead, local news capacity continues to shrink.
More than 70 percent of journalism jobs have disappeared nationally over the past two decades, and nearly one-third of local newspapers have closed. Across California, communities are losing reporters, coverage is shrinking, and too many residents lack reliable information about what is happening in their communities.
The consequences are real. When trusted local information disappears, misinformation fills the void. Civic participation declines. Public trust erodes. Accountability suffers.
The impact is especially acute for immigrant communities, communities of color, rural communities, and people who rely on in-language news. For many Californians, ethnic and community media are not simply another source of information. They are the most trusted source of information.
That reality is what inspired California’s investment last year.
The California Local News Fellowship and Propel Initiative were designed to address different parts of the same challenge.
The Fellowship invests in people.
Since its launch in 2023, the Fellowship has placed more than 110 journalists in newsrooms across California — journalists who have since reported more than 10,000 stories that may not have been told, strengthened local reporting, and carved pathways into journalism careers. More than one-third of fellows from the first graduating class have already been hired into permanent positions in their host newsrooms, helping rebuild a profession that has lost too many talented journalists over the past two decades.
This investment was never about filling vacancies in newsrooms, it was about building a journalism workforce that reflects the richness, diversity and lived experiences of California itself.
For nearly 50 years, the Maynard Institute has worked to ensure that the people telling America’s stories better reflect the communities whose stories are being told. We have long believed that journalism is strongest when newsrooms include people with different backgrounds, perspectives, cultures, languages, and life experiences.
Communities are better served when the people reporting on them understand them. While the California Local News Fellowship invests in people, Propel invests in institutions.
Through a partnership among the Maynard Institute, California Black Media, American Community Media, and Latino Media Collaborative, Propel is helping strengthen ethnic and community media organizations that collectively serve more than 20 million Californians.
And this work is not theoretical. It is already happening.
This spring, Propel brought together journalists, editors, publishers, freelancers and students from ethnic, community, local and legacy media organizations across California for training focused on storytelling, audience engagement, leadership, innovation, and sustainability.
This summer, Propel will launch Fire Up, a new entrepreneurship initiative designed to help emerging media leaders and local news organizations build stronger, sustainable business models.
One of the institute’s co-founders, Robert C. Maynard, often spoke about the importance of ensuring that “all Americans have front door access to the truth.” That vision remains as relevant today as it was when he first said it.
Access to truth requires trusted news organizations. It requires journalists who understand the communities they serve. It requires institutions that can endure.
The California Local News Fellowship and Propel Initiative are helping build all three.
Maintaining support for these programs is not simply an investment in journalism. It is an investment in access, representation, civic participation, public trust and a stronger California.
California has already begun building a solution.
Now is not the time to stop.
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