California one step closer to helping local newsrooms

Hello and Happy 4th of July!! 🎆🎇 

Here’s what’s in this week’s issue:

📰 California bill to fund local news with a tax on big tech clears a big hurdle

📰 Knight Foundation announces the Knight Election Hub for the 2024 election season

📰 US focused on presidential debate while local news continues to struggle

📰 American Journalism Project joins forces with JPMorganChase to support local news outlets

📰 Cambridge, MA proposes a new way of funding local news

📰 California bill to fund local news with a tax on big tech clears a big hurdle

The California State Senate passed proposed bill SB-1327 with a 27-7 vote last week, clearing a huge hurdle and getting the bill one step closer to becoming law.

The proposed bill would create a $500 million annual fund to support local news, with an additional $400 million going to state schools, all funded by a tax on data-extraction mitigation tax on tech platforms making over $2.5 billion per year.

If passed, the bill would help with the hiring and retention of journalists, as well as provide support to pay freelancers for community newsrooms.

The bill is up next for an Assembly vote, and then to the Governor’s desk to become law.

📰 Knight Foundation announces the Knight Election Hub for the 2024 election season

The Knight Foundation has announced the launch of the Knight Election Hub, an initiative to help local publishers for the upcoming national election season.

The hub will help publishers in several ways, including “enabling voters to make informed decisions across all ballot levels, building confidence in the election process and its results, and highlighting the essential role of local publishers in providing quality information”.

The election hub offers free or subsidized access to data, software and other tools, as well as networking opportunities for newsrooms and journalists to connect on their coverage.

To gain access, newsrooms must be:

• “substantially engaged in original news gathering and publishing for a place-based audience”

• Are clearly nonpartisan

• Have a published ethics policy

• Are not for profit or have an annual revenue of less than $5 million, including parent companies and subsidiaries

📰 US focused on presidential debate while local news continues to struggle

A great piece by Howard Homonoff on the struggles of local news: While major news networks are hyper focused on last week’s presidential debates and its potential impacts on our democracy, local news in the country continues to fight its decades long battle against big tech, hedge fund operators, and now AI.

Many argue that this is as grave a threat to democracy as any political party or candidate.

The takeaway: while there are promising success stories out there, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

📰 American Journalism Project joins forces with JPMorganChase to support local news outlets

The American Journalism Project and banking giant JPMorganChase announced Monday that they will be teaming up to help local news outlets across the country.

Andrew Gray, Managing Director of Regional Communications for JPMorganChase said that “The evidence is clear that a thriving local news ecosystem is key to more civic engagement and a healthy democracy” and that the corporation believes that “supporting sustainable models for local news is essential to meeting information needs, strengthening communities and fostering inclusive economic growth”.

JPMorganChase will work directly with eight local nonprofit newsrooms from around the country from AJP’s portfolio.

📰 Cambridge, MA proposes a new way of funding local news

The City Council of Cambridge, Massachusetts is weighing a new proposal which would have the city pay for local news. The measure would have the city pay $100,000 per year earmarked for local news.

Cambridge, the 4th largest city in Massachusetts, doesn’t have a dedicated local newsroom, and has essentially become a news desert.

Critics argue that this kind of arrangement would put journalistic independence at risk, with journalists ultimately beholden to local government for financial support.