Save local newspapers

I think by now we are all aware of how media can shape public opinion and even decide what is fact in the face of alternative facts. When control is concentrated in the hands of a few this process can be less than balanced.  We have all watched the death of newspapers some iconic but gone none the less. There are so many problems this country faces yet saving local papers needs to demand attention. For starters subscribe to your hard print local paper.  Then adopt one from the city or town of your choice .   DO SOMETHING!  Below are other suggestions from an article in the LA times. There are a number of steps the federal government should consider that could make the local news business more sustainable without compromising its independence, including:

• Making it easier for commercial news organizations to convert into nonprofits, building on the example set by the Salt Lake Tribune last year. Such a shift could open the door to treating subscription fees as tax-deductible charitable contributions, which would be a boon to readers.

• Amending federal bankruptcy law to let courts give weight to community benefits, not just the interests of creditors, when overseeing the restructuring of insolvent newspapers. 

• Providing no- or low-interest government loans for news start-ups and community publications.

• Recognizing that when newspaper mergers reduce investment in local reporting, consumers may be harmed to an extent that violates federal antitrust law.

• Expanding the Corp. for Public Broadcasting’s mandate to include local public-interest news media organizations, such as Berkeleyside and Voice of OC.

• Classifying local journalism as a public service profession and making journalists eligible for federal loan forgiveness, just like lawyers, nurses, teachers and veterinarians who work in underserved communities.

In the longer term, lawmakers and regulators are going to have to grapple with the damage Google and Facebook have inflicted on the publishers whose content they have leveraged to attract advertisers. And philanthropic foundations and private benefactors should consider the establishment of a “deconsolidation fund,” or community-based media fund, that could be used to help newspapers ease into nonprofit status, represent the public interest in bankruptcy proceedings or even buy local newspapers from chains. Courageous work is being done by journalists across America, but locally owned newspapers are ultimately more accountable to their communities than chains owned by hedge funds and private equity firms.

Finally, although outright government funding for the news sets off alarm bells, we are encouraged by state-level initiatives — the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, the Colorado Media Project and Your Voice Ohio — that treat accountability and watchdog journalism as a public good and provide financial and organizational support for independent, factual, nonpartisan, solutions-oriented reporting. At the same time, states should take care not to exacerbate the problems faced by the news business, as the California Legislature did last year by passing AB5. The law, which codifies a state Supreme Court ruling on employee classifications, requires newspaper carriers to be treated as employees rather than as contractors, imposing ruinous costs on already strapped publishers. So far the publishers have been given until 2021 to comply, but they should be exempt altogether from AB5 or given more time to transition away from print delivery.

I believe that people who come together to solve problems can solve problems. Let’s figure this out!!