It’s good to see politicians waking up to the importance of local, independent journalism.
Corporate news giants and even public media groups continue to cut reporters in response to shrinking budgets. More than 500 reporters across the U.S. were laid off in January alone. As a result, Americans have been left with fewer and fewer ways to find accurate information. The rise of AI will make it even more difficult for us to find legitimate, truthful news sources.
In this barren news landscape, J. The Jewish News of Northern California, Mission Local, Cityside, Bay Area Reporter, El Tímpano and the Bay Area’s other neighborhood, ethnic and community media remain significant sources of real local news. We tell you what’s happening in your community and what your politicians are doing — for good or for ill. We help you understand what issues matter most and what solutions may exist for those issues. Local, independent journalism is a public good.
But our business model is a mess. Advertisers prefer massive platforms like Google and Facebook to smaller, local news outlets. And there is only so much money that our amazingly loyal readers can provide.
That’s where the government comes in. Like electricity, sewers, sidewalks, the internet and other infrastructure that make modern life in a democracy possible, local journalism needs our society’s support.
RELATED: This bill could harm the cause of good journalism in California
A bill introduced by state Sen. Steve Glazer, who represents most of Contra Costa County and part of Alameda County and is a member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, will do just that. SB 1327 will tax the data collection practices of the biggest tech platforms and then use that money to create a tax credit that enables local, independent news outlets to hire full-time reporters and editorial staff.
Glazer’s bill provides all the right incentives to produce better journalism — unlike a bill from state Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland that I picked apart here. In Glazer’s bill, money flows only to independent, local news organizations, not to hedge funds or news outlets located outside the state. The money is restricted to paying journalists, not to adding to some stockholder’s profit. Even though the bill sets up the revenue as a tax credit, 501(c)(3) nonprofits will be eligible to receive this money, which is good, because the nonprofit news sector is growing and J. itself is a nonprofit.
The mechanism funding Glazer’s bill is complex and may not make it through the legislative process. But the idea behind it is sound. Glazer’s bill taxes data collection by Facebook, Google and other platform giants. These companies invade your privacy to grab your data and then sell information about you to advertisers. In other words, the reason that advertisers prefer to advertise on Facebook rather than in J. is because they can target potential customers more precisely on the social media network, using data about you that you probably don’t even know they have. That’s not fair, and some would argue it’s not right. SB 1327 taxes that data collection, providing a disincentive for platforms to do it. That’s good for you, and good for publications like J.
California legislators are looking for a way to merge the Wicks and Glazer bills, but they shouldn’t. They can pass Glazer’s bill. New York State just approved legislation providing a similar tax credit. California should do the same.