The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the state of journalism, and they need to hear from you by Friday.

What does the FTC have to do with journalism? FTC Chairman John Liebowitz has said, "We do two things at the FTC: competition and consumer protection. Both of those issues touch on the future of journalism.”

On December 1 and 2, the agency will be holding workshops on journalism and the news in our digital economy. Liebowitz explained that the FTC hopes to use these workshops to “come up with some ideas about what policy makers or lawmakers might think about doing, or refraining from doing, going forward." What’s unique is that the FTC is looking to you to help come up with those ideas.

Tell the FTC What You Need from the News

Already this year, both the House and Senate have held hearings on the state of the news. As our government considers what role it should play in supporting journalism, we have to be sure the public and working journalists have a voice in the process.

In announcing the workshops, the FTC released an eight-page memo with nearly 50 questions organized around three topics: Changes in Journalism Driven by Technology, Economic Challenges of News Organizations, and Possible Government Policies.

We’ve already read the memo (so you don’t have to), and condensed the key themes into five groups of questions. You don’t need to file extensive comments or be a lawyer to participate. We've created a quick survey to make it easy for you.

Add Your Voice Before November 6.

If the public doesn't weigh in now, the loudest voices will be the Big Media lobbyists and corporate execs who got us into this mess. We know Big Media will be pushing for more mergers and consolidation. Their lobbyists want to relax antitrust laws so they can fix prices and prop up old business models at the expense of innovation and good jobs for journalists.

We don’t need more of the same bad policies. We do need to invest in more public interest journalism, support promising new media models, protect the First Amendment, and encourage diverse voices online, on the air and in print.

Make Sure the FTC Hears from You.

You know better than anyone what cost-cutting and newsroom layoffs have meant for your community: less quality news and fewer watchdogs.

The FTC needs to hear your ideas for saving the news. And we need to act quickly — the public comment period ends Friday, Nov. 6.