Stefanik should lead fight for community journalism
More stores closing non Thanksgiving Day
The Front Page
Morning Update
Saturday, November 13, 2021
By Ken Tingley
The Ithaca Journal announced this week it would be delivered by mail beginning next month. It blamed the labor shortage but newspapers have been struggling with delivery for years.
In an opinion piece in the Lockport (N.Y.) Journal, the head of the Democracy Center, Jim Schultz, wrote, “Since 2004 in the United States, more than 1,800 community newspapers have shut down permanently, leaving their towns to survive in what has been correctly dubbed `news deserts.’ Local governments tax people and spend their money with virtually no public scrutiny. How local police operate is hidden from public view. When elections roll around, there are no reporters asking candidates about their plans and publishing their answers for voters to see and judge. Local polluters have no one looking over their shoulder.”
It is the problem small towns are facing all across the country.
We all need to pay attention.
“And along with the loss of all that is the loss of all the good news of the events and people that help bind a community together,” Schultz added. “How our high school sports teams are faring, what business just opened, what local nonprofits are doing to lift up people’s lives in ways where we might help.”
Thousands of journalism jobs have been lost and newspapers and their staffs have both gotten smaller.
For me, the most important part about the proposed reconciliation bill is not getting much attention. It is called the “Local Journalism Sustainability Act.”
It provides financial help for newspapers and their subscribers. This may not save newspapers, but it certainly would help to slow their decline.
Highlights of the bill include:
- Five-year credit of up to $250 annually for those who subscribe to a newspaper.
- A journalist compensation credit for news outlets that would pay up to half of a journalist’s salary. It would allow news outlets to hire more journalists to cover local news.
- Advertisers would also receive a five-year credit of up to $5,000 in the first year to allow small businesses to advertise in local news outlets.
Without journalism, you don’t have democracy.
The bill has a price tag of $1 billion or about 1/2000th of the $1.75 trillion spending plan currently on the table in Congress. Unfortunately, the bill has repeatedly been bounced in and out of the final package.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke earlier this week to keep the legislation in the spending plan.
“Local newspapers and broadcasters play a critical role in holding our elected officials accountable, shining a spotlight on important news, and challenging the issues of our community to come to light,” Cantwell said on the floor of the Senate. “The Local Journalism Sustainability Act is essential to maintaining that trust, that diversity of voices and that local perspective. The tax incentives in this bill will help local newspapers and digital-only news journalists and broadcast newsrooms remain financially viable to retain and hire local base journalists to cover local news stories.”
But here is the most shocking thing of all.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is one of 11 co-sponsors of the bill.
Considering her regular attacks on the local media over the years, that comes as a surprise.
“Our local news outlets are so important to the North Country, especially in our more rural or isolated areas,” Stefanik said in announcing her support. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our news outlets, newspapers, and TV and radio stations have gone above and beyond to deliver up-to-date information to our North Country residents in a timely fashion. I am proud to be co-sponsoring this bill to support readers, advertisers, and publishers and keep local news media sustained. I look forward to advancing this legislation along with my House colleagues and supporting initiatives like this to keep local journalism thriving.”
It’s hard to believe she actually said those words. Perhaps, some action that backs up those words are warranted. This is an opportunity for her to push forward with a solution to a problem instead of politicizing every issue.
It is a chance to save democracy and hold politicians accountable.
It’s hard to believe she is serious about that.
Thanksgiving Day
A few years ago I was writing editorials that condemned retail stores that opened on Thanksgiving Day. The editorial board argued that people should have at least one family holiday.
The pandemic seems to have changed some minds.
The Times-Union reported Wednesday that seven chain stores would not be open on Thanksgiving Day this year: Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, Walmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy and Kohl’s.
It’s a step in the right direction.
Trust in the media
I wrote about trust in the media earlier this week and the folks from the Nieman Lab at Harvard reported that local news outlets are more trusted than their national counterparts. It reported that Republicans are nearly twice as likely to at least “somewhat trust” local news outlets over national ones (66% to 35%).
It also reported the size of the gap has tripled since 2016.
Stefanik probably wants the newspapers saved so she can try to spread her lies. I know The Post Star calls her out, but I don't know about others.
Stefanik is very good at reading the will of the people, and at recognizing when she can do something popular without it costing her anything. This will not pass, so she can get away with claiming to support it. How would she vote if it was going to be close? However the GOP leadership wanted her to......