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News / Clark County News

From the Newsroom: This bill would help local media

By Craig Brown, Columbian Editor emeritus
Published: January 25, 2025, 6:10am

With the 2025 legislative session underway, already almost 1,000 bills have been filed, and if the trend holds, another 1,000 will be filed before the 105-day session ends.

One measure that leaders of news organizations will be watching carefully is Senate Bill 5400. Co-sponsored by Sen. Adrian Cortes, D-Battle Ground, it would support local journalism by creating a tax surcharge to be paid by large international technology companies.

As the bill states, “quality local journalism is key to sustaining civic society, strengthening communal ties, and providing information at a deeper level that national outlets cannot match.”

But, as you probably already know, local news has withered under the heat of flashy applications like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and the like. These apps are customized for smartphones, and it’s hard not to become addicted. Advertisers know this and now spend most of their dollars online.

It’s also fair to say that online shopping has also led to the closure of many local retailers whose advertisements were once the biggest share of newspaper revenue. According to SB 5400, newspaper advertising revenue is down 66 percent and newsroom employment fell 44 percent in the last decade.

In other words, we need the money.

This bill would provide $20 million per year to split among existing newspapers, news websites and broadcasters. I looked through the definition of what organizations would be eligible. The Columbian, the Camas-Washougal Post-Record and our websites would easily qualify. So would, say, a news nonprofit serving the Latino community in Yakima County, or a commercial radio station providing local news to Marysville. Recipients would have had to employ at least three journalists for the last year, or two journalists for two years.

Organizations receiving the money would need to use it “to support the employment of news journalists covering civic affairs in underserved communities to deepen community understanding of complex community issues and policies.” Media organizations couldn’t use it to employ a bookkeeper, a sales rep or an events planner, for example. The Department of Commerce would administer the program, which is called “Supporting Local News Journalism.”

Rowland Thompson, who lobbies on behalf of the Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington trade group, hopes that if the bill passes, news organizations could receive between $13,000 and $15,000 per eligible reporter or editor. That would be a huge lift toward sustaining our industry.

The bill is due for a hearing at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday before the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee. Ben Campbell, The Columbian’s publisher and co-owner, said this week he intends to testify in favor.

When I looked at the Legislature’s website on Wednesday, there had been no bill analysis filed by staff. I don’t know what its chances are this session. But it is worth noting that two years ago, the Legislature stepped up to fund 16 news reporting positions to tell underreported stories around the state. That program is administered by Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, and we are fortunate enough to have one of the fellows. Henry Brannan works with us and with The Daily News of Longview to report about issues surrounding the Columbia River, its environment and its people. Funding for Henry’s position runs through mid-2026.

These are trying times for local news producers. Changing technology destroyed our business model, yet the need to provide the public with factual information about their government and their world is more important than ever. While this bill wouldn’t solve the problem, it could be a big help.

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