The Empire State has always been a leader in journalism, taking on the task of informing the world. Since the founding of Alexander Hamilton’s New York Post and Frederick Douglass’s The North Star to The New York Times’ innovations in digital journalism and the establishment of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications — one of the most comprehensive schools of communications in the country — our state continues to lead the way in journalism: in print, on the airwaves and online.

New Yorkers are accustomed to diverse and robust news sources providing them with high-quality reporting and timely information. This expectation has come under assault in recent years. News outlets across New York and the country have shuttered due to declining revenues or corporate mergers. Even outlets that are still open have slashed aspects of their newsrooms and cut back on local news coverage.

The decline of local news is harmful, leaving citizens less informed and not holding the government accountable. In a time of distrust and misinformation, reliable local news is more important than ever, and New York State should step up to help support it.

The number of newspapers in New York declined by 40% between 2004 and 2019, and newspaper circulation decreased by 63% during the same period, according to the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. These numbers have greatly impacted upstate New York communities, where local newspapers and other newsrooms have closed or been consolidated out of existence. The news industry has seen a total decline in employment of 26% across a similar period, according to the Pew Research Center. These jobs have mostly been lost in newspapers and radio broadcasting, with an accompanying rise in digital newsrooms.

The rise in digital journalism has not been prominent enough to offset the overall loss of journalists nationwide. We continue to feel these pressures here in central New York. In late 2020, Spectrum News made significant cuts in their newsrooms by reducing local coverage. Alden Global is pursuing its relentless acquisition of newspaper publishers, this time by pursuing a hostile bid for Lee Enterprises, the publishers of our region’s excellent Auburn Citizen. Time and time again, we see mergers and consolidations in the news industry accompanied by “cost-saving measures” that inevitably slash newsroom jobs and hollow out important community institutions.

These trends must be reversed. Under President Biden’s leadership, the federal government is considering tax credits to support struggling outlets as part of the Build Back Better Act. This is an important step to help stabilize the local news sector. We must also do more to encourage innovation and expansion into underserved communities and news deserts.

I have introduced the New York Local News Act to do just this. This legislation will create the New York Commission on Local News and Civic Information, a grant-making body that will foster collaborations between New York’s colleges, universities and community organizations to deliver local news across the state.

Taking its model from a similar effort in New Jersey, the commission will help interested community groups propose new projects and receive modest grants to support their implementation. Projects already funded in New Jersey include training new journalists, developing archives of local government activity and expanding linguistically-accessible news sources.

The New York Local News Act is a critical step toward addressing New York’s news deserts. The commission the act will create, as it did in New Jersey, will be independent of the elected branches, with protections to ensure that the projects it funds are transparent and have editorial independence. By investing in local news projects, we can ensure that New Yorkers will enjoy the benefits of a robust news sector dedicated to keeping all our citizens informed and holding our government accountable. There is no better guardian of our democratic values and traditions than dedicated reporters with the skills, time and resources to shine a light on the good, the bad and the ugly of government.

Supporting local news in New York is a wise investment, and I strongly encourage my colleagues to join me in making such an investment in the upcoming budget.

Rachel May is the Senator for New York’s 53rd District.

Published on December 7, 2021 at 9:03 pm