Opinion: Newsom should sign legislation bolstering newsrooms

It’s called the Community News Act, but it may as well be called the Public Good Act.

That’s because it supports local news, which is a public good — much like libraries and schools, serving, educating and informing us and playing a vital role in a healthy democracy. Newsrooms in particular engage members of the public in issues that affect them and provide a consistent stream of fact-checked information to counter propaganda, myths and fake information online and elsewhere. At the same time, most people don’t pay for news anymore and some major tech companies profit off news content without reimbursing newsrooms, leaving them in dire straits.

“The United States has lost more than 80% of its local journalists since 2002, and California ranks among the 10 worst states for the number of journalists per 100,000 residents. The Community News Act would deliver support right to the heart of the local news crisis by making it easier for community news providers to hire and employ more journalists,” according to Matt Pearce, the policy director of Rebuild Local News, which helped with AB 2222 efforts.

AB 2222 effectively creates tax credits for employing full-time and part-time journalists and sole-proprietor local news providers. It was introduced by Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, and Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, sponsored by Rebuild Local News and co-authored in the Senate by Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton.

Under the legislation, which is now on the governor’s desk, the tax credits work out to about $20,000 per full-time journalist at a newsroom for the first five positions — and $15,000 for each additional journalist. Part-time journalist positions would be supported with $7,500 credits. A $15,000 “new hire” credit would be awarded to news organizations that expand their newsroom’s headcount of journalists.

A diversity of newsrooms would qualify for “refundable” tax credits, including nonprofit and commercial newspapers, news websites, broadcasters including public media and even very small newsrooms. The program is already considered fully paid for through a separate tax conformance measure in the bill, which would take away a California corporate tax break for executive compensation above $1 million. “Refundable” means that credits that go above a newsroom’s existing tax liability are then paid in cash instead of in tax breaks, much like a grant.

There are provisions to guard against partisan or “fake” news operations or other bad actors from being eligible — as well as to ensure the government doesn’t have any say on editorial content.

AB 2222 was passed by supermajorities in the California Legislature and is supported by a broad coalition, including the Asian American Journalists Assoc.-Los Angeles and the California State University’s journalism chairs — both groups I help with — as well as Media Guild of the West, Latino Media Collaborative, American Community Media, California Black Media, California News Publishers Association, SAG‑AFTRA, California Independent News Alliance, California Broadcasters Association, Pacific Media Workers Guild of The NewsGuild‑CWA, Institute for Nonprofit News, Local Independent Online News Publishers and News/Media Alliance. In addition, dozens of individual news outlets support the measure, including LA Public Press, The LA Local, Lookout Local, Cityside journalism initiative, The Sacramento Observer, CalMatters, La Opinión, Hispanic LA and the Napa Valley Register.

I urge anyone who cares about civic engagement and democracy — which relies on people who are well-informed with fact-checked, non-partisan information — to contact Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office and encourage him to sign AB 2222 into law before the Sept. 30 deadline.

Julie Patel Liss is a California State University, Los Angeles journalism professor, an advisory board member of the California Civic Media Program and a former Bay Area News Group reporter.