Does government subsidize your newspaper? You bet it does
Government subsidies have been crucial to American newspapers and magazines for more than two centuries, even if most journalists and readers knew little about them.
And the authors, Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal, found that despite fears about journalism’s independence from government, those subsidies have been declining, not rising. In today’s dollars, they said, government support for newspapers and magazines has fallen from more than $4 billion in 1970, to less than $2 billion.
“The knee-jerk reaction tends to be that government can’t get involved,” said Mr. Cowan, dean emeritus of the Annenberg School. “We think it’s important for people to understand that the government has been involved from the beginning, and that the subsidies were much larger in the past.”
Local, state and federal laws require governments to publish a wide variety of notices – in effect, buying newspaper ads to inform the public of upcoming laws, hearings, even agency budgets. But there is a growing movement to let cash-strapped governments skip the print ads and only put such notices on their own Web sites.
Mr. Westphal, executive in residence at the Annenberg school, said such notices are probably worth more than $1 billion to newspapers, and they are especially important to the smallest papers.
As for the end of the migration of those notices to the Web, he said, “it’s almost inevitable that this will happen.”
He noted that the study did not even take into account the notices that the government requires private entities to buy in newspapers and magazines, like bank foreclosure notices and drug company disclaimers about their new products.
The third major category of government support takes the form of special tax treatment for publications, like reduced sales tax rates on paper and ink. The study’s authors cited state and federal tax breaks worth at least $900 million.
READ FULL STORY
Photo: ShironekoEuro (Creative commons license)
And the authors, Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal, found that despite fears about journalism’s independence from government, those subsidies have been declining, not rising. In today’s dollars, they said, government support for newspapers and magazines has fallen from more than $4 billion in 1970, to less than $2 billion.
“The knee-jerk reaction tends to be that government can’t get involved,” said Mr. Cowan, dean emeritus of the Annenberg School. “We think it’s important for people to understand that the government has been involved from the beginning, and that the subsidies were much larger in the past.”
Local, state and federal laws require governments to publish a wide variety of notices – in effect, buying newspaper ads to inform the public of upcoming laws, hearings, even agency budgets. But there is a growing movement to let cash-strapped governments skip the print ads and only put such notices on their own Web sites.
Mr. Westphal, executive in residence at the Annenberg school, said such notices are probably worth more than $1 billion to newspapers, and they are especially important to the smallest papers.
As for the end of the migration of those notices to the Web, he said, “it’s almost inevitable that this will happen.”
He noted that the study did not even take into account the notices that the government requires private entities to buy in newspapers and magazines, like bank foreclosure notices and drug company disclaimers about their new products.
The third major category of government support takes the form of special tax treatment for publications, like reduced sales tax rates on paper and ink. The study’s authors cited state and federal tax breaks worth at least $900 million.
READ FULL STORY
Photo: ShironekoEuro (Creative commons license)
Comment
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Comment by Bill Grady on January 31, 2010 at MyFortDodge.com -
Nothing quite like reading something you blogged about last April as being a hot legislative topic today. I hope the lawmakers ignore the newspaper lobby and have the money go to our schools, public works, etc. instead of to the corporate headquarters of the local paper.
By the way, if you feel the same way, drop a note to your state representatives.
Their email address are listed below...just copy and paste:
rich.olive@legis.state.ia.us
daryl.beall@legis.state.ia.us
mckinley.bailey@legis.state.ia.us
dolores.mertz@legis.state.ia.us
helen.miller@legis.state.ia.us
david.tjepkes@legis.state.ia.us
gary.worthan@legis.state.ia.us
© 2010 Created by Bill Grady
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