The crisis facing journalism is often described as a crisis of business, technology or public trust. It is all three. But beneath them lies a more consequential question: what happens to a democratic society when reliable journalism ceases to be a viable institution? The digital revolution has already dismantled the old information hierarchy. Newspapers and broadcasters once decided what entered the public conversation. Today, a post on X, a YouTube video, a WhatsApp message or an AI-generated answer can reach millions before a newsroom has finished checking the facts.

This is where the importance of journalism has to be reconsidered. Its essential function was never simply to deliver news. Distribution is now something technology companies can do at enormous scale. Journalism matters because someone must establish what happened, distinguish evidence from assertion, expose wrongdoing, provide context and hold powerful institutions to account. That work is expensive. Investigations take time. Reporters have to cultivate sources, verify documents, travel, obtain records and withstand pressure from governments, corporations and political interests. None of this becomes cheaper merely because an........

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