Freakonomics I believe it was, had a podcast on how Journalism is a public service. Meaning, it should be funded by grants. Why and how is it a public service?

Freakonomics I believe it was, had a podcast on how Journalism is a public service. Meaning, it should be funded by grants. Why and how is it a public service? I wish I could remember the episode. 1. When journalists investigate their local politicians it helps keep those politicians clean. 2. Strong local papers and journalism is taken into account by loan officers who in turn save the municipalities tons of money by shaving off a percentage of a loan. This is massive returns when it takes 20million to build a local high schools, Libraries, etc.