Efforts to support local news nationally got a boost from the League of Women Voters.
The national organization voted on Saturday to take a policy position, designed in Washington, supporting local journalism because it is important for democracy and empowering voters.
That authorized one of the nation’s most trusted grassroots organizations to lobby for legislation to help save local news.
“We’re throwing support behind the concept that local news is good for the public – it’s something people need,” said Dee Anne Finken, Vancouver, Wash., a member who advocated for the position.
With a vote of 859-63 at the convention in Washington, DC, the league took a position stating that “it is the government’s responsibility to provide support for the conditions of reliable local journalism to survive and thrive.”
The league’s Washington chapter created this, said Mary Coltrane, chapter president.
It is producing a comprehensive report in 2022 on how democracy is suffering from the decline of local news. (I participated as a technical editor of the report and advised the author.)
The chapter approved a position statement in 2023 and proposed it to the national organization.
“This is a big thing,” Finken, the report’s author, said after the convention. “We’ve had a lot of states come and say ‘thank you,’ they feel this in their own communities, from Florida to Maine to Colorado to California, it’s shaking everyone up.”
Finken said league members rely on local reports.
“They follow what’s going on with the school board and the city council,” he said. “When you live in a community like Everett and the Everett Herald gets cut, they can’t keep up with what’s going on and they can’t support good government.”
The position statement clears the way for local chapters to advocate as they see fit to preserve local news.
“They’re designed to stand the test of time, so no matter how the media landscape changes in the next 25, 50 years, that position will probably be enough for us to take the necessary action,” Coltrane said.
In Washington, league members in 2023 supported legislation to exempt news publishers from state business taxes, saving an estimated $10 million over 10 years.
Other chapters, and national organizations, can choose to lobby for various proposals to support local news outlets.
That ranges from local decisions to continue publishing legal notices in newspapers to federal proposals for tax credits and antitrust reform.
“It empowers us at the local level across the country,” Finken said.
A revolutionary scoop: The Declaration of Independence was published on July 6, 1776, in The Pennsylvania Evening Post, a Saturday edition of the newspaper that was available “for only two coppers.”
It was the first of many newspapers to publish the revolutionary document after its adoption on July 4.
The Evening Post had previously reported, on July 2, 1776, that the Continental Congress had declared the independence of the colonies.
Let’s also celebrate next July 2nd, when Americans were first informed by the press about the birth of their country.
California progress: Maybe the League of Women Voters can help in California.
Two major bills to help save local journalism in the Golden State advanced last week but still need an overall legislative floor and the governor’s signature.
Both impose similar impact fees on dominant tech companies to address the damage caused to local news outlets and support newsroom projects.
“What has happened so far is that we have proven that we are serious and that we have a lot of support in both houses, so the threat, if you look at it from a platform point of view, is more real than ever,” said Sen. . Steve Glazer told me in an interview.
The California Journalism Preservation Act, a proposed news use fee for technology gatekeepers, cleared the state Senate Judiciary Committee in a 9-2 vote on June 25. Now before the Appropriations Committee.
The full Senate passed another bill, Glazer’s SB 1327, to tax data extraction transactions on giant platforms. It will raise $500 million a year for local newsrooms. It passed 27-7 on June 27 and before the state assembly.
Google, Meta and Amazon are currently the only companies that will be subject to the tax, as they earn more than $2.5 billion a year in California selling user information or access to users to advertisers.
Glazer said the June 27 vote “gave us tremendous momentum and enthusiasm” and was bipartisan.
The Legislature adjourned to August 31, so supporters only have two months to pass one or the other or a combination.
Until now, tech platforms “never came to the table with a serious proposal” to address the harm caused to local journalism, Glazer said.
“Google’s answer, you have to like our charity, isn’t that enough… This is how they defend their contribution to burning newsrooms,” he said.
A Google spokesperson referred me to the executive’s testimony about the usage costs, because the company has proposed more funding, combined with grants from others.
Glazer said the grant is “simply not enough.”
“We appreciate it,” he said, “but this is not the answer to the problems that have been created.”
This is excerpted from the free weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website, st.news/SavetheFreePress.