March 11, 2021: One year since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the virus has claimed more than 2.6 million lives worldwide, and is approaching 530,000 deaths here in the United States. Report for America corps members adapted with swiftness and grace to cover the most consequential story of a generation, maybe a
Pandemic
Government public health advertising can inform the public — and help save local newsrooms
In The Atlantic, we wrote about several ways society can save local news as it collapses. Here I’m going to elaborate one: The federal government can significantly help local news to better inform their communities during the COVID-19 crisis by dramatically increasing their spending on public health advertising, and funneling a good chunk of that