This essay is part of a series on the 2025 Lenfest Institute-Aspen Digital Local News Summit, an annual convening of the country’s leading journalists, publishers, funders, news creators, and other industry professionals. It was originally published in Columbia Journalism Review. This is going to be a historically difficult time for journalism, a challenge in every regard. It will be much harder than the previous Trump era. All independent institutions are under attack, and journalism in particular.