What Dall-E believes journalism funding in New York state looks like.
New York just did something remarkable. On April 20, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul approved her state’s hulking annual budget, which like many others, funds everything from public schools to health care coverage.
But tucked inside this one was something special: a $90 million gift to local journalism. Based on the long-stalled Local Journalism Sustainability Act, a 2021 bill introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by Arizona’s Ann Kirkpatrick (D), the “Newspaper and Broadcast Media Jobs Program” will spread $30 million in subsidies throughout New York state for three years, all to shore up the struggling journalism industry. What’s even better is that the legislation does this in what, at first blush, seems to be a fairly equitable way, ensuring the big dogs of New York media—the New York Times, CNN, News Corp., etc.—won’t guzzle up all the goodies before the rest of the Empire State’s journalists have a chance to hit the open bar.
It does this by splitting that annual $30 million into three giant pieces. Now stick with me. Things are about to get very math-y. Each year, $13 million will go to media companies with less than 100 employees to cover 50 percent of a journalist’s salary. That subsidy is capped at $25,000 per employee and $300,000 per newsroom, meaning the state will help cover the salaries of up to 12 journalists per company. For small, local outlets, that could be enough to keep the lights on and reporters covering area football games and city council meetings.
Those same rules apply to the next $13 million, though that’s designated for companies with over 100 employees. This money will likely have less of an impact, though. Companies that are publicly traded are excluded from the program. That means the Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Reuters, Gannett’s seven papers in the state, and big broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, and CNN, and even New York City’s local affiliate stations are all barred from accessing funds. According to former ProPublica president Richard Tofel, there is a loophole that may allow the print media folks a chance at the cash, though. If an organization’s circulation has decreased by 20 percent in the last five years, they should be eligible.
Now, that leaves the final $4 million. This will be used to help hire new journalists. Organizations will receive $5,000 if they create a new position. That translates to 800 new gigs a year, 2,400 over three years. And there aren’t any size exclusions on those funds.
Of course, New York isn’t the first state to help fund local journalism. As JMM wrote about last fall, California is pumping $25 million into local newsrooms and New Jersey’s Civic Information Consortium has $3 million in local journalism support to play with annually. But other states like Wisconsin and Massachusetts that have toyed with the idea of some kind funding have failed to cross the finish line. And they’re in the vanguard. Most states aren’t even thinking about this at all.
Which is becoming more and more of a dire issue. Now, JMM isn’t going to rehash the sad state of local journalism again. You can catch on that here, here, and here. Or if you want to get in-depth with it all, check out Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative. But we all know the situation isn’t good. Newspapers are disappearing. Broadcast news audiences are shrinking. Layoffs have thankfully come to a stop after a brutal winter, but now there’s word stalwarts like NPR and many of its affiliates are running significant deficits as listenership has fallen off and pledge drives are proving less effective. And the recent dust-up over the scorched earth departure of a longtime NPR producer hasn’t likely helped the cause. All of which is to say that journalism needs help.
And sure, there are reasons to be hopeful. Some print magazines are coming back. There are business models—the nonprofit model most notably—proving possible. But none of those seem able to sustain the industry from coast to coast. And as media critic Brian Morrissey put it to New York University Journalism Professor Jay Rosen on “The Rebooting Podcast,” all of this fails to address the audience issue, which is that more and more folks are getting their news from TikTok but few news outlets, local or otherwise, are equipped to meet that demand. Of course, the potential TikTok ban might solve that problem.
Ultimately, it may mean that the only way to have a news media healthy enough to act as the public watchdog is to nationally cover the cost of journalism. In this current climate, though, that seems unlikely. Politicians already consider anything other than undying praise as an affront to their very being. Actively funding journalism that holds them to task: That’s a non-starter. It’s why the replacement bill for the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, 2023’s Community News and Small Business Support Act, is going nowhere. And why its replacement will likely meet the same fate.
In the end, it’s easy to see a two-tiered system. States like New York will have healthy local media, which increases participation in democracy and helps governments run efficiently. Others will have vast news deserts where there’s no separation between truth, rumor, and misinformation, and that’s far from remarkable.
All We Do is Win, Win, Win
As we all know, JMM likes bling. This week, there was a lot of bling. The Society of Professional Journalists released the list of winners for its Region 7 competition, which covers Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas. Drake did pretty well—and there’s a chance for more. Every winner in a category will go on to face the other 11 regional winners for a chance at total categorical supremacy. Those winners will be announced in September. For now, JMM will have to settle for this impressive list.
• Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper (Small) Winner: Times-Delphic
• Best Ongoing Student Magazine: Winner: Drake Political Review. Finalist: Drake Mag
• News Reporting (Small) Winner: “President Martin explains higher pay during year of faculty salary cuts,” by Lia Reichmann, Mackenzie Swenson, Andrew Kennard, Times-Delphic
• In-Depth Reporting (Small) Winner: “The Anti-Suburbia,” by McCade Gowdy, Urban Plains
• Sports Writing (Small) Winner: “For the Dogs,” by CJ Younger, Urban Plain
• Feature Writing (Small) Winner: “When the Cameras Leave,” by Lincoln Roch, Drake Mag. Finalist: “We Can Bring Back the Stars,” by CJ Younger, Urban Plains
• Breaking News Reporting Finalist: “Provost says eliminating programs and faculty positions is ‘unavoidable,’” by Andrew Kennard, Times-Delphic
A special shout-out to the Times-Delphic staff and its editor-in-chief Lia Riechmann. This is the first time in JMM’s memory that the TD has been the winner in the Best All-Around Student Newspaper category. A chef’s kiss to all y’all for the hard work you’ve put in.
Want to brew some tea?
Do you have some essential info or did you just get a new gig as the head of marketing and communications at the Trendy Gardener like Grace Altenhofen (MMJ, ’23)? If so, then let JMM know by sending that juicy news on over to jeff.inman@drake.edu. JMM will treat it like DBS’s hot new Relays’ shows and tell everyone about it.
Finally, be careful around furniture.