Letters-to-the-Editor & Commentary

A Big Boost for Local Journalism

Published 6 months ago6m ago • Bookmarks: 12 • Comments: 2

April 22, 2024

The just approved New York state budget includes a payroll tax credit for local news outlets. With the passage of this bill NYS is the first state in the nation that is incentivizing the hiring and retaining of local journalists. The passage of the budget comes months after two local newspapers – the Scarsdale Inquirer and Rivertowns Enterprise went out of business.

The program- $30 million per year for three years allows each eligible newspaper and broadcast business to receive a 50% refundable tax credit against the first $50,000 of an employee’s salary, up to a total of $300,000 per business. $4 million will be allocated to incentivize print and broadcast businesses to hire new journalists. The remaining $26 million will be split evenly between businesses with fewer than 100 employees and those with more than 100 employees.

Since 2004 NYS has lost half its newspapers, more than 30 papers shuttered according to City & State. A quarter of NY Counties are now news deserts -down to their last local newspaper or without one at all and the stories of people and communities not being told.

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The decline of local news is a threat to democracy—reduced scrutiny of governments and elected officials, reduced participation of voters in local elections, more opportunities for government officials to abuse taxpayer dollars or be corrupt (because of lack of scrutiny), less responsiveness to community concerns.

Credit for the new law should go –in large part to the efforts of a former opponent of mine -Lucas Cioffi who led the effort to find a way to save local news publications or to start up new local publications. Mr. Cioffi, along with Sandra Nam, QigoChat Inc and the Westchester Youth Congress organized a very impressive virtual community meeting in February that was attended by over 300 residents. The virtual meeting encouraged the community to think of creative initiatives that could help local publications survive. The meetings and follow up actions was democracy at its best—information with excellent ideas presented. Detailed minutes were presented to those who attended, a press conference was held with the Empire State Local News Coalition a short time later. And – now we have a success story—a state government initiative to help news outlets. Our officials in Albany listened.

Lucas Cioffi is a citizen who has made a positive difference. Democracy at the local level will be strengthened thanks to his efforts. And – I think we will see more local media outlets and more scrutiny of local governments. The community deserves to be informed of events, news that impact their lives. We owe a big thank you to him for leading the effort which has produced a very positive result. THANK YOU!

PAUL FEINER

Greenburgh Town Supervisor

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