(The Center Square) – As small-town publications close shop and communities lose touch, lawmakers are considering a bill to divert $20 million from higher education to support journalists covering civic affairs.
Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, proposed Senate Bill 5400 following the launch of a state-funded news fellowship last April. The $2.4 million program facilitated by Washington State University employs several reporters across various newsrooms for two years at a salary of $55,000 each.
Liias intends to carry the torch with SB 5400, which would establish a Washington Local News Journalism Corps Program within the Department of Commerce. The program would distribute grants to qualifying newsrooms to fund reporting on “civic affairs in underserved communities.”
The proposal would require the state to dip into its Workforce Education Investment Account, which it spends on higher education and financial aid programs. SB 5400 would direct $20 million from that account to fund the new grant program if approved.
“When I was in grad school, one of the first jobs I had was as a freelancer for the Mukilteo Beacon,” Liias told the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee during a Tuesday public hearing. “I learned a lot about the power of that spiral-bound notebook and that pen.”
While roughly 20 years have passed since his days as a reporter, Liias said the craft is essential for holding public officials accountable. However, he noted a “tremendous decline” since then due to the influx of social media and legacy advertisers leaving the traditional news mediums.
Technology and new business models are filling the gaps, but he said the quality of coverage is declining. His bill would solve that by incentivizing the industry with an increased business and occupation tax surcharge on these tech platforms to fund the Journalism Corps Program.
“I think if we do it this way, we’ll also create a win-win for the platforms,” Liias said, “because we’ll be creating more content, more views, more clicks. Everybody wins when there’s more coverage in our communities.”
He said the grants would be distributed based on a newsroom’s size and presence, “not by viewpoint or editorial content.” Whether independent, liberal or conservative, all newsrooms are welcome if they and their staff meet the qualifications and produce original, local, civic reporting.
While several people testified in support of SB 5400, with a few in opposition, around 423 individuals signed in virtually to show their solidarity, with 81 others doing so in dissent.
The League of Women Voters of Washington was one of those who showed support. In a recent study, the league linked the decline of local news to impacts on democracy, including reduced voter turnout, government oversight, transparency and higher taxes and government spending.
According to the study, Washington has lost over 27 publications since 2004, including roughly 20 percent of its newspapers. Meanwhile, newsroom staffing has dropped 67% since then.
Representatives from The Seattle Times, The Columbian and My Neighborhood News Network also testified in support of SB 5400 on Tuesday. The Association of Washington Business, TechNet, and the United Faculty of Washington State testified in opposition.
Those in support noted the industry’s shifting landscape and associated challenges, while others highlighted pains already felt by higher education. Notably, Gov. Bob Ferguson recently proposed a 3% cut to four-year institutions to address a massive revenue shortfall.
“The [Workforce Education Investment Account] is now in the red,” UFWS President Bill Lyon, who also sits on the WEIA oversight board, testified. “I’m a big fan of local journalism, but we also need lots of educated citizenry to make the most of that journalism, and the WEIA fund is not the place.”
