The League of Women Voters of Washington strongly endorses Senate Bill 5400 in support of local journalism.
This measure seeks to defend democracy in communities that have been hard hit by a changing news landscape. There is amazing access to information in our times; however, this information does not necessarily include what is going on in local communities. This puts democracy at risk.
SB 5400 requires major technology companies to pay slightly more to the state Workforce Education Investment Account. These new dollars are an investment in the future and will not detract from existing uses.
In its 2022 study, The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy, the League describes how the loss of local news outlets over the last two decades has led to lower voter turnout, less civic engagement and fewer candidates seeking local office. These are impacts a functioning democracy can’t afford.
Washington has lost roughly two-thirds of its local journalists since 2008. From Everett to Walla Walla, from Clark County to the Methow Valley and locations in between, millions of Washingtonians have fewer places to turn for accurate information about what’s happening in their communities. People have less information about how their government works, and what they can do to make sure it works well.
Without the common framework local news offers, it’s more challenging for community members to talk about shared problems and political polarization grows. When there’s little or no local journalism, too few people learn of decisions by elected officials; government costs escalate. Finally, it’s harder for officials to get the word out on critical public health issues when they need to. This puts lives at risk.
People cannot work to make their communities robust and vibrant if they don’t know who is making decisions. They cannot hold decision-makers accountable if they don’t know what decisions they are making. Interest in government wanes, and along with it, democracy.
For all of these reasons, the League of Women Voters of Washington supports SB 5400, introduced by Sens. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, and Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick. SB 5400, now in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, will do the following if passed:
● Establish the Washington Local News Journalism Corps Program (Journalism Corps Program) in the Department of Commerce to make grants supporting the employment of news journalists covering civic affairs in underserved communities.
● Require $20 million of the funds deposited into the Workforce Education Investment Account to be used to support the Journalism Corps Program each fiscal year.
● Increase the cap for the workforce education investment surcharge imposed on select advanced computing businesses from $9 million to $15 million annually.
All forms of local news organizations are eligible — online, print, TV and radio, both for-profit and nonprofit. Solid standards and safeguards will determine which news organizations are eligible for support. For example, news organizations must regularly update content; provide systems for verifying facts, and for reporting and correcting errors; and hire professional staff.
Grants will be based on the number of journalists at eligible news outlets and would likely range from $10,000 to $13,000. Funding will come from a modest increase in a business tax surcharge on large software companies such as Microsoft and Amazon, which pay into the aptly named Workforce Education Investment Account.
It is worth noting that a recent Columbia University study reports Google would need to pay publishers $10 to $12 billion annually and Facebook $1.9 billion annually to compensate news outlets for the true value their content adds to their platforms. Democracy cannot calculate costs in this manner.
The League is proud to support this bipartisan bill. It speaks to the heart of our mission: to empower voters and defend democracy. When mis- and disinformation are widespread, protecting our sources of information is akin to protecting our democracy.
The League thanks Sens. Boehnke and Liias for proposing a commonsense solution to promote democracy. We thank the sponsors of the bill, and we urge the members of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to advance SB 5400 to its next step in the legislative process. We look forward to Gov. Bob Ferguson signing the bill into law and witnessing its positive effects in our communities.
“Solid standards and safeguards will determine which news organizations are eligible “ for the payoff. Government control of media. Orwellian. Anti free press. The League of women voters should be ashamed of this position.
Thanks Mike, you said the whole enchilada right there..thank you
Any time government “pays” or “supports” something, it comes with strings that control content and actions. Look at how constrained our health care system is these days for Medicaid and Medicare recipients. I cannot think of a worse action for local journalism than to support this bill. The supported local journalism businesses will find themselves completing paperwork documenting their compliance with the “strings attached”. That compliance need will cost them in additional labor costs. Their topics covered and freedom to choose stories will be diminished. I understand the struggles driving this effort to protect local news but government “aid” is not a free press answer.
Another perspective that offers food for thought:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/journalism-is-a-public-good-and-should-be-publicly-funded/
I see no “Solid standards and safeguards” in the bill. This is government funded journalism which is dangerous. Who will bite the hand that feeds them? I do see a requirement that recipients of the handouts submit reports to the government for review. What kind of reports and WHY? Bill does not specify answers. Presumably to be awarded future taxpayer money. Local journalism has lost out to the internet and TV where most people get their “news” and where most of the advertising revenue is spent. This is sad. I support subscription fees for consumers of local news. If people want it then they pay for it. If taxing is the only answer, perhaps the major national broadcast networks and browser owners should be taxed to support local journalism since they get the vast majority of advertising revenue.
As I read the explanation by The League of Women Voters, the money raised in SB 5400 is going to come from internet technology companies. They do not hire investigative reporters like ones who report on local courts, among other things. They don’t pay for news uncovered by journalists in the employ of newspaper companies. Advertisers
have left newspapers. The internet companies have developed algorithms that target consumers, which advertisers find much more effective.
It seems according to MENS explanation that government will subsidize newspaper companies according to the number of reporters that they employ. On the surface this seems fairly objective. I do agree with those who have a concern about subjectivity entering into the process. We are at a crossroads for availability of comprehensive coverage of local news. Yes, subscription must be an important revenue source, but with the loss of advertising local newspapers need help. I believe SB 5400 can be an innovative solution to protect democracy with a source for facts that are the basis for informed opinions.
If I read the bill correctly the plan IS to tax major browser owners and major software and AI producers to help cover some of the costs of subsidizing local journalism to compensate for their lost advertising revenue to these large information gathering and disseminating business’s. The purpose of the reporters having to report back on what they are writing about is to be sure it is JUST about presenting all sides of local issues as opposed them being subsidized for reporting anti American, or foreign or terrorist propaganda of some sort. Mark, it looks to me like you are sort of advocating for exactly what the bill is trying to accomplish while at the same time objecting to it as a bad bill. The goal is to have at least some local organizations left that do what MEN seems to be good at, which is presenting all sides of all local issues. I think it’s an attempt to save local journalism, while you and others here see it as an attempt at government control of the media and how we think or are supposed to think. Personally I won’t give any credence to any news source that doesn’t present ideas and opinions that I don’t agree with – government supported or otherwise.
Clinton: I am not advocating for any taxpayer money being used to pay for journalism. I am opposed to it. I merely said IF taxpayer money is going to be used tax the major broadcast companies or browser owners The taxes collected to pay for this handout is from a workforce education investment surcharge imposed on select advanced computing businesses defined as: “Advanced computing means designing or developing computer software or computer hardware,” It is not collected from the major broadcast companies or browser owners per se and it takes money away from school stem program funding. I am most concerned about the lack of criteria for handing out the money. The act says: “An applicant selected for funding under this chapter shall provide the department information on the news coverage supported by this program. (Again WHY?) The information shall be provided in progress and final reports as requested by the department, but no less frequently than once per biennium. The department may consult with civic affairs leaders and local news industry leaders in developing this program.” So it is left to the department bureaucrats to write the rules for who will get funding after they may(or may not) consult with undefined civic affairs leaders and local news leaders. Who decides who these people are? Seems ripe for future cherry picking the “worthy”.
In other words you seem think this is just another Liberal Government idea that is out to get us all in the end. My point is that the main part of the bill you object to is the part both Parties put in to try to implement the safeguards that you think would be needed against possible misuse of the program. The Right (philosophically) thinking folks in this country seem to think all government is corrupt or bad or will become so in the end. This viewpoint, taken to the extreme, seems self defeating in terms of having a society that we can all somehow live successfully in. We need good information to function – what to buy, good places to live, how to invest our money, how to meet common needs like fire and police etc. – not propaganda from the extreme Right or Left, but it seems like that is all we get more and more of the time now. I don’t totally disagree with you, but at some point one just has to take something as an article of faith I guess. We have too much extreme Right and Left in this country and not enough Center. I’ve been hanging out lately in a “Purple” State and it’s been a breath of fresh air.
Marko Liias is the sponsor so yes this is another Liberal Government idea. Those in control will potentially gain power and a modicum of control over the press. Marko is a smart guy and he understands the potential advantages of doling out tax dollars to independent media.