The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic damage across virtually every sector of the news publishing industry with many newspapers already closing, and others are facing closure if the economic climate doesn’t change quickly. News deserts are being created by the end of local journalism, but HR 7640--The Local Journalism Sustainability Act (LJSA)--may be part of the solution.
The LJSA addresses many of the pressing issues and even helps local businesses by proposing three separate tax credits:
1) A credit for advertising in local newspapers and local media
2) A credit for local newspaper subscriptions
3) A payroll credit for compensation to the employers of local journalists
E&P publisher Mike Blinder checks-in with two of the bill’s founders: Francis Wick, president & CEO Wick Communications, and Alan Fisco, president of the Seattle Times. Also in this installment of E&P Reports, Paul Boyle, News Media Alliance's senior vice president of public policy, talks about how the lobbying in D.C. is going, and Dean Ridings, CEO of Americas’ Newspapers, speaks on why and how local news publishers can contact their legislators to urge them to support this legislation.
More information is available online at newspapers.org.
