You may find it as troubling as we do that millions of Americans live in places with no newspaper, radio or TV. How they find out what is going on is mostly through the rumor mill, a source of fake news.

That’s one finding of research by the folks at Facebook who were looking for local media to beef up their local news content.

We are fortunate in Lexington County to have local online and in print newspapers, radio and TV to keep us informed.

That’s far from true elsewhere in America. But we have witnessed the beginnings of a trend that we think is in the interest of an informed citizenry.

It started in 2007 when Rupert Murdoch paid $5 billion for the Wall Street Journal.

“That will be the death of the Journal as a respected financial newspaper,” some said.

They were wrong. Murdoch poured money into it to make the Journal a national newspapers that covers the world.

In 2013 Warren Buffett paid $344 million for 28 daily newspapers among them the Florence SC Morning News, He has invested more millions to make them better.

That year Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million.

Do these 3 billionaires know something that the rest of us don’t? Are they throwing good money after bad to buy into a business that may not last?

Now biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and other community newspapers for $500 million and it will assume $90 million in pension liabilities.

Dr. Soon-Shiong made a $9 billion fortune in cancer treatment therapies and is determined to turn the papers into a West Coast powerhouse.

His goal is to attract 5 million online subscribers and continue to publish print editions, too.

With this many billionaires investing big bucks in newspapers, it looks like they are going to be around a while longer.

You won’t have to rely on the rumor mill or the internet for fake or legitimate news.

– Jerry Bellune