As the 118th Congress is coming to its end, Alan Fisco, president and CFO of The Seattle Times and legislative co-chair of America’s Newspapers, along with myself, met with key leadership in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the reintroduction of the Community News and Small Business Support Act (H.R.4756). Representative Claudia Tenney (R-NY24) introduced the bill July 2023, and 53 bipartisan cosponsors have signed on to the bill over the past 18 months, including several members from the House Ways and Means Committee. We met with Rep. Tenney, who told us of her enthusiastic desire to reintroduce the bill. Rep. Tenney’s family previously owned the newspaper in her hometown in Upstate New York, so she knows first-hand the importance and value of protecting local newspapers. Rep. Suzann DelBene (D-Washington) will again serve as the original cosponsor. We also met with staff from Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri) and incoming Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to discuss the importance of tax incentives to sustain local news.
While the current climate in Washington has been somewhat challenging in moving our bill — and other legislation forward, the considerable bipartisan support of the Community News and Small Business Support Act demonstrates that there is an awareness and appetite by many in Congress to support the local newspapers. We will continue to work with our supporters in Washington, D.C., to find the best vehicle for advancing the bill, and the most likely path forward would be inclusion in a tax package in the coming months. We know that the environment is challenging, but we will continue to press for Congress to support their local newspapers.
Members of America’s Newspapers have been very active in recruiting support from their members of Congress. In addition to Alan and myself, Francis Wick, Cameron Nutting Williams, Jeremy Gulban, Zachary Richner, Leonard Woolsey, Heidi Wright, Matt McMillan and many others have been active in securing support for the Community News and Small Business Support Act, with visits to D.C. and calls to their representatives. Their hard work has yielded the current slate of bipartisan cosponsors. While we have a very effective team with Chris McCannell and our government policy affairs advisers in Washington, D.C., it is always the work from our members that is most effective in securing cosponsorships and legislative support.
Our legislative committee is very active and will be meeting in Q1 for a planning session to consider other issues affecting the industry and determining the best strategy for America’s Newspapers to protect its membership. If you’re interested in participating in the committee, please reach out to committee co-chairs Alan Fisco or Francis Wick.
Additional areas that we will monitor next year include AI and copyright; seeking compensation from Big Tech for using our content; and how to better manage the increasing litigious challenges facing our members.
Dean Ridings can be reached at dridings@newspapers.org.
