Sacramento seems to think that we can’t have newspapers without government. A recently signed bill aims to provide targeted government relief for struggling local media. It’s an improper, and impractical, use of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
Under Assembly Bill 2222, local news outlets will receive a $20,000 tax credit for every qualifying full-time journalist hired up to a maximum of five. The credit drops to $15,000 for each full-time journalist hired after the first five. When a “new journalism position” is filled by a full-timer, that triggers another $15,000 tax credit. Hiring a part-time journalist would net the media outlet $7,500 per employee. The tax credit would be paid for by increasing publicly traded corporations’ tax bills through new rules on the deductibility of executive compensation, which has prompted opposition from low-tax groups.
We don’t dispute, as the bill’s supporters argue, that local news organizations are “facing unprecedented financial challenges” that have caused “widespread newsroom closures and a dramatic decline in the number of journalists covering local communities.” Local journalism keeps communities informed and forces governments to be more transparent. The more knowledgeable we are, the better decisions we make.
But none of these truths should obligate lawmakers to subsidize journalism with taxpayers’ dollars. A press propped up by government is a press that will prop up government. Objectivity and independence are compromised when the state steps into a paternalistic or conservator’s role.
Our country has always understood that “freedom of the press” meant “there will be no government interference with newsgathering, editorial decision-making and publication,” says the Freedom Forum. But the principle collapses when government funding is involved, as it “often comes with conditions, which can provide the government with leverage to threaten editorial independence.”
“Government funding of media may also create bias, rather than eliminate it; media outlets may change their reporting or self-censor,” says the Freedom Foundation, which was created by USA Today founder Al Neuharth to promote First Amendment liberty. “And even the existence of government funding may undermine the appearance of independence in the public’s eye.”
At this point some readers are thinking, “Yeah, but what about National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service? They’ve historically been subsidized by taxpayers and they’re independent.”
NPR and PBS operate in a bubble that primarily serves one side of the political divide. Roughly half the taxpayers in the country are forced to fund opinions and slanted news coverage that they disagree with. This can’t be offset by “Sesame Street” and “Austin City Limits.”
While the traditional news business is shrinking — more than 12,000 local California journalists “have lost their jobs since 2002,” says bill proponents Rebuild Local News.
But others can step in to the fill the void without a government subsidy.
CalMatters, a nonprofit that effectively covers the state without public money, is funded by “a mix of foundations, major donors, members and corporate sponsors.” Fresno-based GV Wire is also funded through donations. There is no corporate ownership nor political party support.
New platforms such as San Francisco’s Substack allow writers to publish and send their content to readers either through free or paid subscriptions. Substack, launched only six years ago, has more paying subscribers, 4 million, than the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Meanwhile WordPress and a host of alternatives let anyone or any group affordably create a blog or news site to cover news, politics and life in general at any level, from local to international. Revenue can be generated from paid subscriptions, donations or advertising, or any combination of those.
Citizen journalism often happens on the fly, when smartphones record an unfolding event. But coverage can also be planned and professional. Reports are livestreamed, appear in social media and in some cases are picked up by the legacy press. When every cell phone has a camera, nonprofessionals are highlighting under-reported stories and are lifting “citizen journalism from a niche practice to a major sector,” says freelance journalist David Silverberg.
Lawmakers are trying to revive a sector of an industry that isn’t dying but is being revolutionized. They might not realize it, because public policy typically cannot keep up with face-paced market development, but journalism will move on without government’s help and better perform its tasks when it doesn’t feel beholden to the state.
Kerry Jackson is the William Clement Fellow in California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute and co-author of The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide.