By Mary Coltrane and Dee Anne Finken / For the Herald
The League of Women Voters of Washington strongly endorses Washington state Senate Bill 5400 in support of local journalism.
This measure seeks to defend democracy in communities that have been hard hit by a changing news landscape. There is amazing access to information in our times; however, this information does not necessarily include what is going on in local communities. This puts democracy at risk.
SB 5400 requires major social media platforms to pay slightly more to the state Workforce Education Investment account. These new dollars are an investment in the future and will not detract from existing uses.
In its 2022 study, The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy, the League describes how the loss of local news outlets over the last two decades has led to lower voter turnout and less civic engagement; fewer candidates seek local office. These are impacts a functioning democracy can’t afford.
Washington has lost roughly two-thirds of its local journalists since 2008. From Everett to Walla Walla, from Clark County to the Methow Valley and locations in between, millions of Washingtonians have fewer places to turn for accurate information about what’s happening in their communities. People have less information about how their government works, and what they can do to make sure it works well.
Without the common framework local news offers, it’s more challenging for community members to talk about shared problems, and political polarization grows. When there’s little or no local journalism, too few people learn of decisions by elected officials; government costs escalate. Finally, it’s harder for officials to get the word out on critical public health issues when they need to. This puts lives at risk.
People cannot work to make their communities robust and vibrant if they don’t know who is making decisions. They cannot hold decision-makers accountable if they don’t know what decisions they are making. Interest in government wanes, and along with it, democracy.
For all of these reasons, the League of Women Voters of Washington supports Senate Bill 5400, introduced by Sens. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, and Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick. Senate Bill 5400, now in the Labor and Commerce Committee, will do the following if passed:
Establish the Washington Local News Journalism Corps Program (Journalism Corps Program) in the Department of Commerce to make grants supporting the employment of news journalists covering civic affairs in underserved communities.
Require $20 million of the funds deposited into the Workforce Education Investment Account to be used to support the Journalism Corps Program each fiscal year.
Increase the cap for the workforce education investment surcharge imposed on select advanced computing businesses from $9 million to $15 million annually.
All forms of local news organizations are eligible: online, print, TV and radio, both for-profit and nonprofit. Solid standards and safeguards will determine which news organizations are eligible for support. For example, news organizations must regularly update content; provide systems for verifying facts, and for reporting and correcting errors; and hire professional staff.
Grants will be based on the number of journalists at eligible news outlets and would likely range from $10,000 to $13,000. Funding will come from a modest increase in a business tax surcharge on large software companies such as Microsoft and Amazon, which pay into the aptly named Workforce Education Investment Account.
It is worth noting that a recent Columbia University study reports Google would need to pay publishers $10 billion to $12 billion annually and Facebook $1.9 billion annually to compensate news outlets for the true value their content adds to their platforms. Democracy cannot calculate costs in this manner.
The League is proud to support this bipartisan bill. It speaks to the heart of our mission: to empower voters and defend democracy. When mis- and disinformation are widespread, protecting our sources of information is akin to protecting our democracy.
The League thanks Sens. Boehnke and Liias for proposing a common-sense solution to promote democracy. We thank the sponsors of the bill, and we urge the members of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to advance SB 5400 to its next step in the legislative process. We look forward to Gov. Bob Ferguson signing the bill into law and witnessing its positive effects in our communities.
Mary Coltrane is president of the League of Women Voters of Washington. Dee Anne Finken is local news and democracy chair for the League of Women Voters of Washington.
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