The upending of the traditional business model of journalism has brought many questions and concerns, but among them, this is one of my biggest fears: are we losing courageous reporting on state government. I spent my reporting infancy in the arms of a ferocious state reporter named Neil Shively, of the Milwaukee Sentinel. Neil was so intent on protecting citizens’ interest in monitoring their representatives that he refused to accept the governor’s embargoed budget. He declined the advanced copy of the budget, saying he wouldn’t agree to not write about it until the...