Democracy is held up by a series of pillars, each one as important as the other.

If one pillar sags or becomes unstable, the foundation of democracy is in peril.

For most of my career in journalism, I’ve had the unenviable opportunity to watch as one of those pillars of democracy — rural journalism — erodes.

A sequence of events — a changing media landscape, economic troubles — have conspired to impact newspapers and other media outlets across the nation and here at home in Oregon.

Yet there may be some hope, real hope, on the way.

A bill — House Bill 2605 — is now lodged in the Oregon Legislature Joint Ways and Means Committee and I am hopeful it will gain passage.

House Bill 2605 would provide a $2.9 million infusion of public funding to bolster local journalism in Oregon. The bill is designed to do several things to help rural journalism. One, it will create a statewide journalism resource center to provide support, programming and training to local publications. Two, it will provide small grants to at least a dozen local journalism projects in every region of the state designed to meet the information needs of vulnerable communities.

The bill will also direct the state to issue one-time grants to the University of Oregon’s Agora Journalism Center and Fund for Oregon Rural Journalism to support local news. The bill will also create a local journalism resource center through the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon.

This bill is crucial, I believe, to create not only long-term sustainability for journalism but to deliver a viable path into the future. I’ve felt for a lot of years our industry has groped along in the dark, hoping to find a solution. This bill gives us one solution, though perhaps not the only one.

Time and again in media markets across the nation, the notion that Americans will get involved if they are informed has been proven. The same is true here in the heartland. When residents can count on a local newspaper or other news source to deliver quality information, they tend to be more involved. That’s crucial because our democracy only functions well if voters are involved in the process.

Our rural news outlets face an array of needs. To keep trusted journalism a part of our local communities is important, and, I believe, critical to the survival of our democracy.

Communities everywhere need to be able to count on a local news source to deliver information. A local news outlet plays a slightly different role then, say, their major metro counterparts. In the heartland, a local newspaper is staffed by people who are part of their community, who are known and who, almost always, face an almost instant type of accountability. In small towns people can walk into a newspaper office and usually have prompt interaction with a reporter or an editor. That’s why what we do is important and why we have a great responsibility. Our actions, our words, our stories, will be met with the kind of accountability not seen in other areas of the nation. That’s how it should be.

I hope House Bill 2605 gains traction and is passed into law. I believe it can help rural journalism. While journalism is important everywhere, in rural areas of our state, it is even more important because area officials and institutions must be held accountable and a good news outlet does just that.

Click here to learn more or to sign on in support of House Bill 2605.

Andrew Cutler is the publisher of the Hermiston Herald.