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Local news outlets are disappearing.according to recent reports Since 2005, more than 2,800 newspapers, mostly local ones, have closed due to “dramatic declines in advertising revenue,” according to the Medill Local News Initiative.
In a democracy, citizen participation at all levels requires high-quality, easily accessible information. At the local level, we need skilled journalists to report on: small town police station, State politician’s handmade IDand local censorship movement.
Media outlets across the country are publishing great work: Works by Jamelle Bouie opinion article New York Times and Elizabeth Brunig death penalty coverage “The Atlantic” brings both to mind. But it never makes economic sense for the Washington Post to pay a full-time reporter to cover a city council meeting in a small Alabama town.
Unfortunately, the number of journalists who are actually paid to report local news is Declining even faster than the number of local news organizations.
This terrible loss of experience and knowledge within the organization is potentially irreversible.
Last year, a consortium of charities pledged to donate 500 million dollars We have been working for more than five years to stop this prolonged death of local journalism. It’s certainly a nice gesture, but it’s unlikely to change the tide.
In 2019, the Knight Foundation pledged the same $300 million over five years to help strengthen local reporting. The five-year period ends next month, and the situation for local news organizations is no better.
Reliance on philanthropy to continue meeting society’s basic needs is unsustainable and always subject to criticism. left And then right. Ensuring all communities have access to quality local journalism will require far more money than philanthropists can throw at it. Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr. estimated it would be costly. 10 billion dollars Ensure quality regional hubs in every Congressional district.
Like clean drinking water, we all benefit from access to quality news, but the market alone doesn’t seem to be able to provide enough news. It turns out that the philanthropist’s pockets are too deep. That means the government has to step in and pick up the checks.
Many people are understandably averse to having the government pay for local news outlets. If press freedom is necessary to monitor politicians, then having those same politicians sign journalists’ pay checks seems potentially problematic at first glance.
However, editorial independence is possible. Crimson White is published by the university’s Office of Student Media, but we make our own decisions about what we cover. Despite receiving funding from the university, we regularly publish opinions and news that are contrary to the administration.
It is entirely possible for public institutions to support journalism that criticizes the same institutions. Governments can and should fund local journalism without risking picking winners and losers.
Last July, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (RN.Y.) Community news and small business support law. Tenney’s bill, supported by 18 Democrats and 17 Republicans, would create a tax credit for small businesses that advertise in local news and reduce employment taxes for local news stations that employ journalists. The content is as follows. This was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Even if you ignore inherent defects In terms of using the tax code to solve every little policy problem, this bill is not the best way to support local news.
Tax credits for advertising in local news would be woefully inadequate given the following circumstances: large and continuous decline Newspaper advertising revenues are driven by the increasing efficiency of targeted online advertising. Cutting employment taxes to hire journalists may help local news stations that already have significant staffs survive, but it also helps entrepreneurial journalists start new stations. It won’t help you set up.
Democracy Policy Networklocal news dollars” Citizens are given vouchers that they can give to local news organizations in exchange for paying subscription fees. Media outlets then pass the vouchers on to the government in exchange for cash to pay journalists’ salaries.
DC City Council Member, October 2023 Janice Lewis George and Brianne Nadeau introduced Local News Funding Act. Their legislation would dedicate $11.5 million annually in grants to local news producers to be distributed to local stations whose registered voters decide to give them a voucher.
Louis George: “Government shouldn’t decide which outlets to fund” explained. “That’s why our bill gives only Washington, D.C. residents the power to allocate grants to news organizations.”
Louis George and Nadeau, on the other hand, invoice Even if news organizations had been prohibited from giving or receiving “anything of value in connection with the allocation of news coupons,” such as free subscriptions, it would still have been a significant step forward for public funding of local news. .
Although neither of these proposed programs passed, momentum must continue to build. More than 1,500 counties Only one local news source And soon we are in danger of losing even that – 204 counties already have none.
Luckily, if you want to stay up to date with local news from the Tuscaloosa area, you can subscribe to our free newsletter below. AL.com, Alabama political reporter or tuscaloosa patchor the Tuscaloosa News. $1 for 6 months Digital subscription offers.
If we want to hold politicians accountable in local elections, uncover and expose corruption, and help small communities thrive, we need local journalists. We need state and federal cooperation to protect local news.
