it’s not obvious there’s public alignment with the kind of journalism that’s needed and the kind of journalism that’s wanted
The journalism that’s “needed”… for what goals? Which becomes a question of “wanted by whom?”.
You might want to shape society into a certain way, and you might have compelling reasons for it… but it’s still an attempt at imposing your social model over others.
Democracy is intended to be a way to avoid that kind of singlehanded impositions, a way for “informed citizens” to vote on what benefits them most, even against what “a single wise man” (like a benevolent dictator) might want.
Consensus would be an even better form of government… but if you know people, then you’ll know how hard it is for a large enough group to reach consensus, or even for two people, or even for one.
(Consensus used to be how Poland was ruled at one time, called “liberum veto”, where any noble could veto any proposal. It did not go well. Nowadays we have a similar thing going on, where someone like Hungary can veto what everyone else has already agreed to, like the incorporation of Sweden into NATO)
Keep in mind though, that democracy relies on two key concepts:
Informed citizens
One vote per person
There is not even a real democracy in the world right now:
Citizens need to be informed… while they rarely are, instead being lead by propaganda and misinformation.
Representative democracy, where representation is chosen once in a blue moon, bundled into a few options, with no choice for a single person to disagree on a single point of a vote… is not democracy.
Having some people’s votes be worth more than other’s, even if it is for whatever “positive action” reasons (ethnicity, residence, having voted for a more voted option, etc.)… is not democracy.
There is a lot of work to be done, on all fronts, to get a society “better for itself”… but imposing a single point of view, no matter how well intended, is not the way.
For the moment, neither public nor privately funded journalism is the answer… the best answer is to have both, while working on ways to enable citizens to get better informed on the consequences of their votes and how they will impact them.
One such way, could be for people to have a trustable personal assistant capable of comparing their personal wishes and needs, to the various options available. This is where open source AIs on a smartphone might come in handy.