Rebuild Local News Backs Washington Local News Sustainability Program

On February 5, Policy Director Matt Pearce testified before the Washington Senate Ways & Means Committee in support of SB5400. The bill would create the Washington Local News Sustainability Program to support local reporting by funding journalist employment grants for newsrooms, financed by taxing search engine and social media companies:

Good afternoon, Senators. My name is Matt Pearce, and I am the director of policy for Rebuild Local News, the leading national, nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition advancing public policies to strengthen community news and information.

We support SB 5400 because it goes right to the heart of the local news crisis by supporting local journalist jobs. In 2002, the United States had about 40 journalists per 100,000 residents on average. Today, according to our research with Muck Rack, Washington has just 7.7 journalists per 100,000 residents, which is below the national average. That’s more than a 75% drop in journalists covering what’s happening in all our communities.

If successfully enacted, SB 5400 would support the vast array of community news organizations that provide today’s local news: newspapers, digital websites, broadcasters, commercial and nonprofit alike, with a program design that avoids violating our First Amendment freedoms by picking winners and losers. It would also support the Murrow fellowship program. We respectfully encourage your support.