This is a much needed collaboration between Automattic and a many financial and service contributors, Google being one.

Small news outlets have been rapidly dying out in frighteningly increasing numbers.

That threatens a free press by shrinking investigative reporting and diminished quality. It reduces local oversight on public interest reporting, and limits choices for consumers.

And it’s getting worse.

Generational sources of print journalism are disappearing. The small two or three or five person organizations can’t turn a profit because they can’t compete with the large players. They can’t afford to pay for traditional news CMS licensing or the underlying technology costs. In my opinion, more than ever, we need more legitimate news sources, not fewer.

This partnership provides one possible solution. Tossing aside all the negative reactions and conspiracy claims about Gutenberg, Automattic and Google, this project can really help legitimate small news organizations become profitable enough to hire more journalists and expand. And it can help jumpstart new sources of journalism too.

That’s a good thing. And I support it.