Communities across New York have grossly inadequate local news coverage. The national collapse of local and community news has led to a 75 percent drop in the number of local journalists since 2002 – and a shocking 28 counties in New York are below even the anemic national average.
Fortunately, last year the state legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul recognized this problem by creating the landmark Newspaper and Broadcast Media Jobs Program. This first-in-the-nation initiative will provide tax support for local news outlets to hire and retain reporters and supporting staff.
Unfortunately, due to a fluke in legislative drafting, the law left out nonprofit newsrooms.
That’s an unintended but hugely consequential mishap. Many of New York’s remaining local news outlets are nonprofit entities. There are 19 public radio stations that provide community coverage in the Empire State, from the Bronx to Plattsburgh. These stations are already experiencing significant budget cuts because of President Donald Trump’s elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is expected to lead to hundreds of job losses in New York State. The unintentional mistake to exclude nonprofit media from state assistance will only lead to more job losses and local outlets closing, further exacerbating the decline of public media.
In addition to radio, there are another 19 nonprofit local news websites, covering towns across the state – – from the Yonkers Ledger to the Ithaca Voice to The City. And more than 50 public access channels cover public meetings, host debates and provide other hyper-local community news in New York.
All of these important outlets are excluded from the law ostensibly designed to help revive community news. It makes no sense to exclude the scores of nonprofit outlets whose very mission it is to cover their communities with a public interest spirit.
This is dangerous, not just for those who work in local media, but for all New Yorkers and for the very foundation of our democracy, itself. The evidence is overwhelming that the contraction of local news leads not just to less coverage of local issues, but to more corruption, higher taxes, greater amounts of misinformation, lower voter turnout, and less ability for residents to understand and address the problems facing their communities. Additionally , the decline of local news exacerbates polarization and toxic fighting among neighbors. Why? As local news recedes, the vacuum is filled by partisan national commentary and social media.
Communities even tend to have lower bond ratings when they have less local news – meaning investments in local news will pay for itself many times over.
We need more news about local issues – and local solutions. Whether that be obituaries about inspiring neighbors, features on local businesses, photos of the high school basketball team, or accountability reporting about city hall, local news makes communities function better.
It is helpful that New York State has already taken steps to address the decline in local and community news but in order to truly support this industry New York must extend assistance to nonprofit media outlets as well. They can do this by establishing a parallel grant program, modeled after the commercial news tax credit, but specifically dedicated to nonprofit, local news outlets. Doing so would significantly impact the long term viability of these crucial news sources, at a time when the federal government is threatening their very existence.
Nonprofit news outlets need assistance. New York can, and should, support them in the next state budget. The price tag would be small but doing so would pay dividends for years to come.
Steven Waldman is chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition, an alliance of publishers, labor unions, journalists and foundations that advocated for the New York law. He lives and works in Brooklyn.
