Advocates for local journalism meet to make their case

The importance of local journalism was highlighted during a meeting at the Hastings-on-Hudson library on March 7 that brought together elected officials, grassroots advocates and the Empire State Local News Coalition that represents about 150 newspapers across the state. The event, organized by Lucas Cioffi, founder of the website Qiqo.org and the Westchester Youth Congress, was designed to call attention to the loss of local news coverage in Westchester and the pressures facing journalism around the nation.

Support was expressed for The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, a bipartisan bill in the State Legislature sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal whose 47th Senate District covers parts of Manhattan and Assemblymember Carrie Woerner who represents the upstate 113th Assembly District. The bill provides tax credits to local news outlets for the employment of local journalists. The day before the rally about 50 newspapers in New York ran editorials expressing support for the legislation.

So far this year in Westchester the Scarsdale Inquirer, Rivertowns Enterprise and Bedford Review Record newspapers announced they would suspend publication until they could find a path toward financial sustainability. Westchester has lost its local radio news coverage with the sale of WVOX in New Rochelle and the cancellation of local programming originating at studios in Greenburgh on WFAS. News12 has revised the content of its Westchester cable TV newscasts to include content from outside of Westchester while downsizing its newsroom operations in Yonkers. A local TV news operation on Verizon’s cable TV service that was originating news programming from RNN-TV in Rye Brook had been shut down. Bucking the trend has been Westfair’s Business Journal, which has expanded its local news content and added U.S. and international coverage from CNN Newsource.

New York State has experienced a 40% decrease of newspapers between 2004 and 2019 with the number of professional journalists being cut in half.

“The lack of newspapers is a big threat to our democracy,” said Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. “The proposed legislation to give tax credits to media outlets will save taxpayers a significant amount of money. Local newspapers provide critical scrutiny over local government, helping prevent wasteful spending and corruption. Local newspapers play a critical role in ensuring competitive elections by covering candidates, incumbent or not. The Local Journalism Sustainability Act should be a priority for lawmakers in Albany and we should continue exploring creative ways to help local newspapers survive.”

According to Assemblymember MaryJane Shimsky, “For many years, most local news has been hanging in the balance. Costs have gone up and circulation has gone down. The Local Journalism Sustainability Act provides tax credits that will make it easier for publishers to pay their local journalists This is a common-sense bill that does not interfere with First Amendment functions. I’m proud to cosponsor this bill and live in a community where hundreds of people turn out for an issue like this.”

“Local journalism is not just about holding government officials accountable; it’s able to forge communities,” said Adam Stone, publisher of the Westchester Examiner. “We are a glue for communities and create a common set of facts for communities to debate in this era of misinformation. This bill is not just about the newspapers that have closed over the last few years, but also the survivors who stand today and cannot completely fulfill our mission. This bill is absolutely urgent to ensure that more newspapers don’t go out of business and that more newspapers can continue serving communities.”

Zachary Richner of Richner Communications and founding member of Empire State Local News Coalition emphasized that with newspapers closing down across the county lifelines such as the pending Local Journalism Sustainability Act take on an increasingly important role.

Valerie Abrahams, former editor-in-chief of the Scarsdale Inquirer, said, “We tackled tough subjects while remaining steadfast in our commitment to accuracy and high-caliber reporting. The Inquirer and its two sister publications which also suspended publication in January papers were a critical part of the infrastructure in Westchester County.”