The document discusses strategies and policies to support local journalism in the USA, highlighting the decline in local newspapers, the impact of COVID-19, and the emergence of new models such as non-profits and community funding. It presents ten ideas for revitalizing local journalism including tax incentives, government support, and partnerships with tech companies. The session emphasizes the urgency of addressing these issues to preserve community engagement and information diversity.

1. Media Policy Instruments to support
local journalism in the USA
NYPA’s spring convention, April 2022
Damian Radcliffe
@damianradcliffe

2. Plan for today
Session structure and goals
1. Why does this matter?
2. Why now?
3. 10 Ideas on the table
4. What this means for you
5. Q&A

3. I know it’s Saturday morning
(But hopefully that sounds good)

4. Virtual Introductions

5. About Me
 British – in USA since 2015
 Married (Habiba)
 3 x Children (Nyla, Yara and Rafi)
 1 cat (Oreo)
 Love(d) to travel (55 countries)
 BA and MA Oxford University

7. Many hats
Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism
University of Oregon
Fellow, Tow Center for Digital Journalism
Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism
Honorary Research Fellow
Cardiff University, School of Journalism, Media and Culture Studies
Life Fellow
Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
(RSA)

8. 1995 – 1999: The Local Radio Company
1999 – 2003: BBC
2003 – 2008: CSV Media
2008 – 2012: Ofcom (UK Office of Communications)
2012 - 2014: ictQATAR (Ministry of Information and Communication Technology)
2012 + Freelance journalism, research + training
2015+ University of Oregon
Background + timeline
1995 2022

10. Recent
Research
includes
In the works:
 World Press Trends 2021-22
 Social Media in MENA 2021
 Local Journalism and
Media Policy
 Community-Centered
Journalism playbook

11. Recent 5-part
series of webinars
on local media
and media policy

12. Those hats…
 Journalist
 Researcher
 15 years in local journalism
Lens for this session…

13. 1. Why does this matter?

14. Well known story
Declining
number of
titles
Rise of news
deserts
Emergence
of Ghost
Newspapers
Ownership
models
(Hedge Funds, Non-
Profits)
Smaller
newsrooms
Stretched
staff
Reduced no.
of sources
(“churnalism”)
Older
Audiences

15. Civic and Wider
Impacts include:
Community ties weakened
People less likely to vote
Exposure to fewer views
Accountability (e.g. City Hall)
Taxes go up
Rise of misinformation (FB, Next Door et al)
Relevance to audiences (esp. younger)

17. Titles

21. Loss of weeklies
SINCE 2004, THE U.S. HAS LOST OVER 2,000 NON-DAILY LOCAL PAPERS.

22. Business Model
 Ownership
 Location of staff
 Revenue sources

26. Employment

29. • Newspaper
employment has
shrunk
Not offset by other
entrants

30. Diversity,
Equity
and
Inclusion

32. Long standing issue

33. Sources
Trust and
Engagement

34. Impact on
Diversity
 Geographic
 Education
 Age

35. 2. What’s changed?

36. Accelerated by COVID

37. Short Term
Impacts
 Furloughs
 Lay Offs
 Closed Offices
 “Infodemic”

38. Longer Term
 More than 100 local
newsrooms closed during the
coronavirus pandemic
(Poynter)
 Jobs lost unlikely to come
back
 Structural changes (e.g. closure
of downtown newsrooms)

39. Other factors

40. Willingness to engage

41. Historic
reticence
 Market is all
 First Amendment
 Fear of Interference
 Loss of Independence

42. Proposals such as the
Local Journalism
Sustainability Act

43. State-level
moves
 In August 2201, Illinois Gov. J.B.
Pritzker signed into law Senate
Bill 134, which created the
Local Journalism Task Force.
 The Task Force will conduct a
comprehensive study of the
status of journalism and make
recommendations for
improvement to the Governor
and General Assembly.

45. Strategic Considerations
1. Who is a journalist?
2. Who should get money? (e.g. public companies)
3. Shore-up existing structure vs. Promote new
4. Platform agnostic vs. Platform specific
5. How support freelancers?
6. Short term “stimulus” or long-term support
7. How do you measure impact/ROI?

46. Why
newspapers?

48. Wider backdrop (?)

49. 3. 10 ideas
on the table

50. 1. Philanthropy
Orgs
 New Media Funders (Pivot)
 Local Community Funds
 Report for America
Individual
 News Match
 Other forms (e.g. donations, legacies etc.)

51. Local Media Association helped more than 200 for-profit
local news publishers raise more than $1.8 million from
the public through its COVID-19 Local News Fund
 The Seattle Times has 18 reporters paid for
through philanthropic funding.
 The Fresno Bee has 10 of 30 in their
newsroom covered by philanthropy.
 Scalawag (Durham, N.C.) pivoted to
offering an array of virtual events targeted
to people of color, and raised $1100 in
donations from one documentary
screening online.

52. 2. Non-profits
 Many local journalists say the future is non-profit.
 More than 360 independent news orgs now part of
Institute for Nonprofit News’ network.
 In 2019, The Salt Lake Tribune got IRS approval to
become a non-profit.
 Published a playbook in December 2020 that captured
the learnings from this transition.
 Moved to 2 x weekly, from daily, but sustainable +
growing it’s newsroom (up 23% at end of 21 y-o-y.)

54. 3. New entrants
 More than 70 local newsrooms
launched in the United States in 2020
and 2021.
 More than 50 local newsletters
started publishing in that time.

55. 4. Public
Notices
 Campaigning to
keep in print
 Refresh and
reinvigorate
(Column start-up)

57. 5. Government comms budgets
Health Crime Consultations
Other examples, ideas and suggestions?

58. CA grants for ethnic media
 The California State Library = availability of $5 million in grant funding for
ethnic media outlets and organizations to support the public awareness
efforts of the Stop the Hate Program.
 Administered by the California Dept of Social Services, it provides support
and services to victims and survivors of hate incidents and hate crimes and
facilitates hate incident or hate crime prevention measures.
 Grants between $40,000 and $400,000.
 Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature appropriated $10 million in
new funding for ethnic media in the state budget for 2021-22.
 Proposal for a public fund to distribute $50 million in grants to news orgs
and reporters, over a five-year period going through State Senate.

59. 6.
Tax Breaks
• Build Back Better proposed a tax
credit of $25,000 the first year and
$15,000 the next four years for
newspapers, digital news outlets,
and radio and television stations.
• Cost = $1.67 billion over the next
five years.
• Journalists live withing 50 miles +
work 30 hours a week or more.

60. 7. Encouraging advertisers
 Up to $5,000 per year for a small
business to cover 80 percent of
advertising with local media (local
newspapers or broadcast stations)
the first year after this act takes
effect and up to $2,500 per year for
another four years to cover 50
percent of such advertising
 (Local Journalism Sustainability Act proposal)

61. 8. Encouraging subscriptions
 Tax breaks / Tax deductible
 Audiences increasingly have a
subscription “habit”
BUT
 Competitive + competing demands
 Churn can be high

62. 9. Partnerships

63. BBC Local News Partnerships
 News Hub to give external media orgs access to BBC video material for use online.
 A Shared Data Unit - staffed by the BBC alongside reporters on secondment from local
news providers - to share data journalism across the media industry.
 The employment of up to 165 Local Democracy Reporters – on 3 year contracts paid by
the BBC - covering councils and public services for the BBC and local news orgs.
IMPACT
 Published over 200k stories.
 New Zealand and Canada launched their own version of the scheme.
 More than 150 media orgs - representing over 1,000 print, online or broadcast outlets – involved.

64. 10. Taxing
Big Tech

65. All eyes on Australia
 News Media Bargaining Code, has enabled Australian news
organizations to extract more than $200 million (c. $150 million US).
 Google agreed to pay Nine Entertainment Co., which owns a major
television channel, multiple radio stations, the Sydney Morning
Herald, and The Age in Melbourne, a reported $30 million AUD
(about $22 million USD) or more annually for five years.
 Country Press Australia, a trade group that represents about 160
regional newspapers, got permission from the government to
bargain collectively with both platforms.
 Local newspapers roughly $31,000 to $62,000 AUD ($22,000 to
$44,000 USD) per year, depending on their size and how many
stories they generate.
 Uneven distribution. Not a transparent process.

66. 4. What does this mean for you?

67. Making the
case to your
audience

68. * Editorials
* Cartoons
* Outreach

69. “Disappearing
headlines”
 Awareness campaign led by Torstar
and News Media Canada in 2021
aimed at raising awareness of the
existential crisis facing publishers: they
produce the news content, while
Google and Facebook get most of
the advertising money.
 The front page cover wraps feature
only the newspaper nameplate
above a blank page, while a
message below the fold reads
“Imagine if the news wasn’t there.”

70. Make the ask

71. Multi-pronged approach

73. Power of partnerships
and collaboration

74. Tl;DR
 Unprecedented levels of discussion at federal
and state level.
 Willingness to discuss ideas previously off limits.
 No shortage of ideas.
 Collecting lobbying/campaigning.
 Lessons to be learned from overseas.
BUT
 Ideas may not pass on the Hill (esp. after
midterms).
 Uneven regional distribution.
 Smaller players risk being shut out.

75. 5. Questions?
Email: damianr@uoregon.edu
Twitter: @damianradcliffe
Web: www.damianradcliffe.com
Thanks for listening!