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Matt Haggman recently launched Solving For, a journalism project that explores one major…
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Time to Lean In: Supporting the Cryptocurrency Task Force
Time to Lean In: Supporting the Cryptocurrency Task Force
Miami-Dade County Commission, May 4, 2021, Miami Mayor, Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairman, Commissioners, My name is Matt…
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Matt Haggman shared thisThe decline of local news is personal — because I was a local news reporter for nearly a decade. But writing the Solving For series on ways to address the long decline reaffirmed something I've long felt and many have argued for years: this isn't a media problem. It's a democracy problem. During the reporting, one survey in particular stopped me. A Gallup poll from late 2024 found that 80% of Americans believe we're deeply divided over our most important values. But what especially caught me is the timing — the number has been climbing steadily since 2005, the same time local news began its collapse and social media its rise. In the two decades since, 3,500 papers have closed, erasing 40% of the nation's local newspapers. Where local papers disappear, voter turnout falls, corruption rises, and national partisan media fills the vacuum with identity, not information. The shift is subtle at first. But over time, the absence of shared civic storytelling doesn't just leave people less informed — it leaves them less connected to each other, and more susceptible to the forces that have every incentive to keep it that way. The stakes for fixing this could hardly be higher. More in my 3-part series on local news — link in comments.
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Matt Haggman posted thisIt remains the most ambitious plan proposed to rebuild local journalism at scale — and is one of the great what-ifs in 21st century American news. In 2020, Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibargüen and trustees gathered for the foundation's quarterly board meeting to consider a radical proposal: buy the second-biggest newspaper chain in America — and rebuild local news from the ground up. The idea was to make a single bet: buy the 30-newspaper portfolio of McClatchy — including The Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, San Jose Mercury News and Charlotte Observer — and convert them into a locally rooted, nationally scaled, digital-only nonprofit news organization. But the COVID shutdown deepened, uncertainty rippled through the markets and the move became increasingly daunting. A bid was never made. Instead, a hedge fund, whose primary purpose was extracting profit, not reimagining local news in the digital age, bought the newspapers out of bankruptcy. The decline of local news over the past two decades remains one of the most stubborn — and consequential — problems in American life. And now the rebuilding effort faces a second disruption before the first is finished: AI. What to do? That's the question at the center of Part 3 of my deep dive into solving for the decline in local news. Link in comments.
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Matt Haggman posted thisIn reporting my series on the collapse of local news, I keep coming back to this question: are we fighting the last war? So much of the effort to rebuild local journalism appears to be focused on the last disruption — the internet. But the next one, AI, is already here. Or is there work being done that I'm missing? Working on Part 3 — on what people are actually building. (Links to Part 1 and Part 2 in the comments.)
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Matt Haggman posted thisWhat should local journalism learn from the internet era — before AI reshapes the industry again? Twenty-five years ago, the internet upended local news. The collapse is often told as inevitable. But the decisions made during that period — and the mistakes — matter now more than ever. Because the industry is about to face another disruption. This one driven by AI. In Part 2 of my Solving For series on the decline of local news, I trace how it all unraveled — and the lessons that may matter most as the next wave arrives. What the series examines: - How the collapse of two revenue pillars left local journalism structurally uncompetitive. - How hedge funds turned struggling newsrooms into extraction machines. - How the industry's own strategic failures accelerated the collapse. - How one organization proved reinvention was possible. The last 25 years weren't just a collapse. They were an instruction manual — written in closed newsrooms and unwatched city halls. The fork is here again. The full story is linked in the comments.
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Matt Haggman posted thisWhat happens to a community when its local newspaper disappears? I spent a decade as a local news reporter — first at the Daily Business Review, then at The Miami Herald. I watched the newsroom at One Herald Plaza grow quieter. Beats vanished. Colleagues left. A few years after I departed, the Herald’s building on Biscayne Bay was demolished and the paper downsized to the suburbs. This month in Solving For, I’m examining the long, structural decline of local news in America. Over the last 20 years, nearly 40 percent of the nation’s local newspapers have closed. Two continue to close nearly every week. What once felt like disruption now resembles a slow civic extinction. But the collapse of local news isn’t a media industry story. It’s a community breakdown story — and the distinction matters. When local journalism collapses: • Government accountability weakens • Municipal borrowing costs rise • Voter participation drops • Public health oversight suffers • Institutional trust collapses • Polarization intensifies This isn’t nostalgia. The consequences are measurable. Part One of a three-part series explores what happened, why it matters — and why the decline was structural, compounded by industry failures. The link to the story is in the comments. Next up: how we got here. Part Three: solutions. If this matters to you, I’d value your thoughts.
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Matt Haggman shared thisDanet and I are so proud of you, Josh, as you get ready to play in this year’s Super Bowl. It’s been such a privilege to watch you grow—always with the courage to take your own path and the strength to keep going when things get hard. From watching your Pop Warner games at Armbrister Park in the Grove, to Columbus HS, to seeing you become a college graduate at the University of Alabama, to simply getting to hang out along the way—we couldn’t be prouder. And, as always, thank you to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami for matching us so many years ago. Deep gratitude to BBBS CEO Gale Nelson, his predecessor Lydia Muñoz, and Marianne Weiss—who was there that day on Washington Avenue and introduced me to Josh, just nine years old, and his remarkable, late Aunt Barbara Williams. Grateful. And so proud of you, Josh—go get ’em. #Seahawks #29
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Matt Haggman posted thisWhat happens when the system that prevented global war for 80 years stops working? We're finding out in real time. The world is rearming at a pace unseen since the Cold War ended. More than 100 countries increased defense budgets last year. Every major military power, simultaneously. Meanwhile, the U.S. is walking away from the system it built—the one designed to prevent great powers from fighting each other. For eight decades, it worked. No wars between major powers. Last week in Davos, Canadian PM Mark Carney declared the rules-based international order over. "A rupture, not a transition," he said. Three competing visions are now fighting to become the next system. What gets decided in the next five to ten years will likely stick for decades. This feels like one of those hinge moments—where the clarity of thinking now shapes what's possible later. In 1946, a sick diplomat in Moscow, George Kennan, famously wrote a telegram that became the blueprint for containing the Cold War. We might be in another moment like that. This week: Part 3 of my deep dive into what's actually happening and what credible paths forward exist. The story is linked in comments.
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Matt Haggman posted thisWe are living through one of the most unusual periods in human history — and we barely notice it. For nearly 80 years, the world's great powers have avoided direct war. The longest such peace since the Roman Empire. It wasn't an accident. After World War II, a deliberate system of institutions, rules, and economic ties was built to prevent another catastrophe. Yet that system is now increasingly treated as optional — even unnecessary. The world is rearming at its fastest pace since the Cold War. More than 100 countries increased military spending last year. Major flashpoints remain unresolved — Ukraine, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East. Each is one miscalculation away from escalation. Underlying it all is the defining rivalry of the century: the United States and China. History offers a bleak guide: When a rising power challenges an established one, conflict followed in 12 of 16 cases over the past five centuries. More weapons. Weaker guardrails. The pattern is clear — unless the arc is bent deliberately. But how? That's what I'm digging into this month. Link in comments.
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Matt Haggman shared thisI’ve been getting this question: “Wait, what exactly are you doing now?” Fair question. So here’s the short version. I’ve launched an independent journalism project called Solving For. A lot feels unsettled right now — technology, democracy, the global order. But we’re often defining problems without finding ways forward. For some time, I found myself thinking about the ideas and strategies that might offer a path through — so I started Solving For to do exactly that. One problem at a time — rare earths, AI safety, congressional dysfunction, college sports — spending a month digging into what’s broken and what credible solutions could be. Journalism and storytelling meets problem-solving. Long-form reporting that unfolds weekly, for people who want depth over speed. Four months in, across these very different problems, a common pattern has emerged: the failures stem less from bad actors than from the incentives we set. When the incentive in rare earths is to minimize costs and externalize environmental damage, dominance flows to the country willing to bear those burdens. In AI, incentives reward speed and market share, pushing safety downstream. When political systems prioritize party incentives over public ones, they reward polarization, punish compromise, and produce gridlock and declining trust. And when college sports insists on amateurism for athletes — but not for anyone else — the system ultimately collapses under its own weight. This week we’ll kick off our first series of 2026: a deep dive into a global military buildup unlike anything since the Cold War. We all watched the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela and are thinking about what comes next — but a larger question is how a rapidly rearming world avoids turning deterrence into disaster. If you missed past series, they’re all at solvingfor.io. And thanks for being along for this.
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I agree, John. We just have to keep doing it. Grateful that you're speaking so loudly at a time like this.
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Matt Haggman liked thisI join Anne-Marie Slaughter and many others in distress at the mere suggestion that the United States would undertake the "annihilation of an entire civilization." I know that many of us, myself included, are tired of feeling like we have to call out the latest atrocity suggested or committed in our names, and funded by our tax dollars. However, I think we may just have to keep doing it. We can't let ourselves or others become inured to what is being said or done with our funding and, to some degree, consent.Matt Haggman liked thisThe President of the United States is threatening the annihilation of an entire civilization, in our name. Write your Senator or member of Congress; run up the flag on social media; speak out in every way that you can. Iran DID NOT ATTACK US. We are now telling the entire world that we are willing to make life unlivable for 14 million people. "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." https://lnkd.in/eNewgG5Z. Suppose Putin told the Ukrainians that their civilization would die unless they knuckled under? Suppose China took that approach with Taiwan? The United States pushed hard for the Geneva Conventions protecting soldiers and civilians in wartime. It is our soldiers who will pay the price; our civilians who will suffer from drone attacks in many parts of the world and ultimately here; and we, as a nation, who will be morally bankrupt. Every American patriot has an obligation to stand up against the deliberate obliteration of civilian infrastructure and the destruction of an ancient and great civilization. We may think it is just words, but what if he does it? #notinourname John Palfrey Reid Hoffman Michael Waldman Michael Abramowitz Molly Kinder Mike Froman Mary Louise Kelly Amber D. Miller Heather Gerken David Ignatius R. Nicholas Burns Edward Luce Thomas Friedman
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Matt Haggman liked thisMatt Haggman liked thisWe've got a double header for you on Refresh Miami -- a two-parter on the momentum in Palm Beach County. First up is a broader look what's driving startups, investors, and larger tech companies including ServiceNow to Palm Beach County (particularly West Palm and Boca) and the opportunity ahead for the region. While Palm Beach County has always been a finance hub and an intregal part of #MiamiTech, there's been a great deal of momentum on the tech front in the last year, and Riley Kaminer of Refresh Miami documents that with fresh interviews below 👇. Then check out part 2: Riley's interview with Jordan Rathlev, a Related Ross executive leading the charge in West Palm Beach. To be sure, capital has long been present, talent is being strengthened through new academic programs, and now, the infrastructure for innovation is taking shape, Riley writes. Find the link to Riley's Related Ross story in the comments.🚀 🚀 🚀 No paywall ever on Refresh. #MiamiTech Joshua B Siegel Solum Global Gaida Zirkelbach Synergist Technology Nicholas Mohnacky Florida Atlantic University Research Park at Florida Atlantic D-Wave Edin CapitalPalm Beach County is turning inbound talent, AI trust, and institutional growth into a serious innovation ecosystem - Refresh MiamiPalm Beach County is turning inbound talent, AI trust, and institutional growth into a serious innovation ecosystem - Refresh Miami
Experience & Education
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Solving For
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Volunteer Experience
Publications
Honors & Awards
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Alvah H. Chapman, Jr. Award of Excellence, Young Leader
Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
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Best Miami Herald Reporter, Best of Miami Awards
Miami New Times
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Barlett & Steele Gold Award, Investigative Business Journalism
Donald W. Reynolds National Center For Business Journalism
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National Press Club Awards, Consumer Journalism Award
National Press Club
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President's Award for Journalism Excellence
The McClatchy Company
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The Gerald Loeb Award
The UCLA Anderson School of Management
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Investigative Reporting Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize, National Journalism Award
Scripps Howard Foundation
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President's Award for Journalism Excellence
The McClatchy Company
Organizations
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New World Symphony
Board of Trustees
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New Leaders Council Miami
Board of Advisors
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One Community One Goal, The Beacon Council
Co-Chair
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Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science
Board of Trustees
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Endeavor Miami
Board of Directors
- Presentwww.endeavormiami.org
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The LAB Miami
Board of Directors
- Present
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