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It’s a bizarre time to be working in the media. We are all consuming more news as we live out our pandemic lockdown lives but fewer people are paying for that news.

I’m not talking about the lack of subscriptions for newspapers, I’m talking about the lack of ads in all the papers. Also, the lack of ads on radio and TV stations as everyone adjusts.

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Ads, which most media outlets rely upon to survive, dried up as the economy started to shut down.

That was the same time the public started looking to news organizations for more information about the decisions the government was making and how those decisions would impact their daily lives.

We are all reading more stories, watching the news conferences live and listening to newsmakers and commentators on the radio.

Yet, the media outlets creating and paying for that content have less revenue at the very time they are needed most.

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This isn’t a cry in my beer moment; I worry about every job in the sector, even at my competition. This is, however, a column to question how the government can help without picking your pocket.