Tax credit for local journalists' salaries still pending in federal budget bill, though removed were potential tax credits for subscribers & advertisers

Let's check back on what I've noted was a possible solution for local journalism, a bipartisan bill (as I wrote in June) called the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.

In its initial, more robust, version, it would have provided tax credits for subscribers or to donate to a local news nonprofit, provide a tax credit for small businesses to advertise locally, and also provide a tax credit for local newspapers of up to $25,000 to hire a journalist in the first year, and up to $15,000 in the next four years.

I mentioned it in September, as well, upon the closing of the local news site Bklyner, with a citation of an FAQ, and some pushback. 

Only the last provision has survived.

Where does it stand?

Well, as Rick Edmonds of Poynter reported 11/4/21, only the tax credit for salaries had survived the House version of the budget bill, and was awaiting Senate review and approval. The cost: an estimated $1 billion the first year. (That's not a lot, all things considered.)

He posted an update 12/16/21, noting that consideration would continue into 2022, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who's stymied the bill in the Senate, supports helping local news outlets. Wrote Edmonds:

Uncertainty over the front-loaded subsidy presents outlets, especially smaller and independent newspapers, with a budgeting challenge at a time when plans for the next year are typically locked in.

It is likely to make the difference between keeping news staffing levels whole or making cuts in the first quarter, if no legislation materializes by the end of January, one of the proponents told me on background. The revenue bounceback from the 2020 pandemic impacts has been less than expected, he said, and prospects for revenue next year are for less, not more.

In other words, it's just treading water. 

The bill has a five-year sunset, while other solutions are sought, including a potential ability for "newspapers and other outlets to negotiate collectively with platforms like Google and Facebook to get compensation for content the platform companies use and sell advertising against."

Bottom line: locally, passage of the truncated bill surely would help established (and maybe some fledgling) local news outlets, so it could help local coverage--though it's dismaying to think that, in some cases, it would help avoid cuts rather than build back better.

But it wouldn't be as significant not as much as offering tax credits to subscribers and advertisers, which presumably would assist a broader range of news sources, especially smaller start-ups.