An Overview of State and Local Legislation to Support Local News: Policy Mechanisms and Challenges to Impact

• Published date: 01 May 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231211391
• Author: Jessica Mahone
• Date: 01 May 2023

46 ANNALS, AAPSS, 707, May 2023

DOI: 10.1177/00027162231211391

An Overview of

State and Local

Legislation to

Support Local

News: Policy

Mechanisms

and Challenges

to Impact

By

JESSICA MAHONE

1211391ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYOVERVIEW OF LEGISLATION TO SUPPORT LOCAL NEWS

research-article2023

Since 2017, in response to catastrophic declines in the

commercial model that has traditionally undergirded

U.S. journalism, lawmakers in 10 states have intro-

duced legislation specifically designed to provide sup-

port to local news media. This analysis identifies four

mechanisms in the legislation: tax incentives, establish-

ment of a task force or commission, appropriation of

general funding, and mandated advertising expendi-

tures. Through late 2022, five of 24 bills introduced

have been enacted in four states, a rate about the same

as for state legislation enactment overall. I discuss sev-

eral challenges attendant to the enactment of legisla-

tion aimed at supporting local news: (1) partisan

divides, (2) budgetary restrictions, (3) narrow defini-

tions of local news media, and (4) exacerbation of the

deterioration of the economic conditions faced by news

media by legislation that guts public notice laws. I also

discuss the mandating of advertising expenditures

enacted in New York and Chicago.

Keywords: local news; public policy; state legislation;

civic information

Over the past decade, local news media eco-

systems have faced catastrophic economic

losses as the business model that supported

local news, particularly newspapers, collapsed

(Abernathy 2022). Since 2004, approximately

2,500 newspapers across the U.S. have ceased

publication (Abernathy 2022), creating gaps in

communities’ ability to access civic informa-

tion. Elsewhere in this volume, Napoli describes

the contours and boundaries of media policy

and highlights the critical need for policy that

addresses the failures of journalism’s commer-

cial model. “As local journalism continues to

decline, reorienting the funding model for local

news sources may be the most pressing and

Correspondence: jamahone@unc.edu

Jessica Mahone is the research director for the Center

for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at the

Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

OVERVIEW OF LEGISLATION TO SUPPORT LOCAL NEWS 47

consequential media policy issue of the moment” (Napoli, this volume). To that

end, three bills in the 117th U.S. Congress proposed remedies for local news: (1)

creating tax credits to encourage individuals to subscribe to local news, to offset

wages paid to local reporters, and to incentivize advertising with local media; (2)

creating a safe harbor for publishers to negotiate payment from companies such

as Google and Meta for local news content that appears on their platforms; and

(3) creating a commission to study the state of local news in the U.S. and make

recommendations for legislative support (Center for Innovation and Sustainability

in Local Media 2022). Congress failed to pass any of these bills, and with the

demise of federal legislation, the path toward government support for local news

likely runs through state and municipal governments.

This article provides an overview of state legislation and local government

policy designed to support local news organizations. Since 2017, lawmakers in 10

states have introduced legislation to provide support to local news organizations.

These bills propose four mechanisms aimed at supporting local news: creating tax

incentives, providing general funding, establishing a task force or commission,

and allocating a proportion of a government’s advertising budget to local news

media. This article discusses bills in each of the 10 states where they were intro-

duced and follows with a discussion of proposed mechanisms of support and

partisan support for legislation. Executive orders by the mayors of New York and

Chicago allocating a proportion of each city’s advertising expenditures to local

media are also discussed. I conclude with a discussion of the challenges and

shortcomings of local news legislation.

Existing Subsidies for Local News Media

Before examining this legislation, we should acknowledge existing subsidies

extended to local news media. Fearful that direct intervention by government

might be a threat to editorial independence, some view government support for

local news skeptically (Cowan and Westphal 2010; Waldman 2020). However,

news outlets, particularly newspapers, have long received support from state

and federal governments in the form of postal subsidies, revenue from publish-

ing legal and public notices, and a wide range of tax breaks (Cowan and

Westphal 2010). However, the same shifts in the industry that have brought

about the closure of more than 2,500 newspapers and increased consolidation

of local news ownership (Abernathy 2022) have brought about declines in the

value of those subsidies and tax breaks (Cowan and Westphal 2010). For exam-

ple, public notices have been one of the primary subsidies received by newspa-

pers, but over the past decade, states have moved to amend existing laws to

allow for the publication of public notices on government websites or by digital

news organizations (Public Notice Resource Center 2018). Although public

notices provide a source of funds for local news organizations, these bills are

not considered here because their primary purpose is not to provide funding to

news organizations.