NOTICE: Senator Bennet Can Help Save Local News In Colorado

By Gregory L. Moore and Tim Regan-Porter

Whatever topic is most important to you… public education, the environment, affordable housing, economic opportunity… Colorado media like this connects you to the information you need to think globally and act locally.

Yet the financial collapse of reliable local news is a statewide and even national crisis – and too few Coloradians recognize the grave threat to our communities.

Between 2004 and 2019, in small towns and suburbs across the state, Colorado lost 33 newspapers – about one in five – including the Rockies News in 2009. Nationally, some 1,800 communities have lost newspapers over the past two decades, leaving “information deserts” across the country – especially devastating in rural areas and communities of color.

Too often, local information gaps are filled with social media, partisan hyperbole and harmful disinformation. Without good, accurate local information, Colorado families can’t make good decisions for themselves – and communities can’t solve their own problems.

Rebuilding local news and a healthier public square will require a massive effort that must include a significant increase in philanthropic support, which is why the Colorado Media Project has helped raise millions of dollars from private foundations since. 2018 to help stimulate innovation in local news. ecosystem. Individual readers and civic-minded businesses are also stepping up, increasing donations, memberships and sponsorships for local news nationwide.

But philanthropy alone is not enough. Community news organizations are vital local businesses that also need and deserve (smart) public support – and Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennett is in a unique position to make it happen.

Public support, you will say? How the hell can newsrooms take government money?

Isn’t it like muckrakers taking money from muckmakers?

Fortunately, there is a clever way to help save local news companies without the government exerting influence over journalists or their coverage. This is called the Local Journalism Sustainability Act. This clever bipartisan bill would provide more help for local news than at any time in about a century – and it’s done in a very First Amendment friendly way.

It helps small media as well as big players, non-profit organizations as well as business, digital and print models, communities of color and rural areas. The key provisions are:

• A tax credit of up to $ 250 for consumers to purchase local newspaper subscriptions or donate to local nonprofit news organizations.
• A refundable tax credit of up to $ 25,000 to encourage local news agencies to keep local journalists on the payroll.
• A tax credit of up to $ 5,000 for small businesses to use to advertise to local news publishers.

Because these are tax credits, there is no government involvement in the selection of winners or losers – it is more akin to the postal service subsidy implemented by the founding fathers. This should be especially good for small, local news businesses and those covering communities of color. They don’t have to hire an expensive lobbyist in Washington; if they do local reports, they would automatically qualify.

The refundable small business tax credit for advertising has two beneficiaries: the newsroom and the small business, which essentially receives free marketing money. Local Aurora businesses in Aspen would essentially get close to $ 5,000 to advertise their services, provided they do it through local media.

The payroll tax credit tackles a central problem facing journalism today: current business models are not sufficient to support labor-intensive investigations or accountability reports . This tax credit could change the dynamics in newsrooms by making hiring or retaining journalists relatively more attractive. Because it is payroll tax relief rather than income tax relief, it is also available to nonprofit organizations.

The House Ways & Means Committee included part of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act – the Payroll Tax Credit – in its budget reconciliation bill. It is now up to the Senate Finance Committee – of which Senator Bennet is an influential member – to decide whether he survives the Senate.

It is supported by groups representing over 3,000 medium and small newsrooms across the country, and many of their countless supporters. We hope Senator Bennet can help pass this vital bill.

This bill is not only a stopgap, but would rather help create a stronger and more inclusive local information system in the future.

Gregory Moore is a former editor of the Denver Post and a member of the Colorado Media Project’s Local Advisory Committee and Public Policy Task Force. Tim Regan-Porter is CEO of the Colorado Press Association.