By KATHARINE WEBSTER, InDepthNH.org
How can the state Legislature help to save local news and news outlets?
A bipartisan subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee – several of them former reporters – grappled with that question Monday while considering a bill to grant a tax credit to businesses that advertise in local newspapers and broadcast outlets.
House Bill 1420, sponsored by Rep. Kristine Perez, R-Londonderry, would grant tax credits against the business enterprise tax or the business profits tax, capped at $5 million in total annually, to local businesses that advertise in traditional media as well as on-line local news outlets.
“I feel very passionate about this,” Perez said. “It helps the media outlets. I’m very fortunate that I in the town of Londonderry have a newspaper that goes to every household every single week. … We get a lot of information from it. I’m able to advertise in it; I’m able to write letters to the editor in it, I’m able to put when I’m running for office.”
Perez said she wrote the bill specifically to exclude national media conglomerates and large, publicly traded corporations whose primary business lies elsewhere.
Under the bill, media outlets that could accept advertising that would qualify for the tax credit would have to employ at least one full-time news person in New Hampshire and report local news to a mostly local audience. Outlets whose main focus is advertising or entertainment as well as political organizations would be excluded.
Most of the subcommittee’s members seemed sympathetic to the bill, noting that several local newspapers have shuttered in recent years, while radio stations that used to employ local news reporters have been taken over by out-of-state corporations offering pre-programmed fare.
Several local publishers showed up to support and help refine the bill, including Deb Paul, owner and publisher of The Londonderry News and The Hudson Times, and Brendan McQuaid, publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News, a statewide newspaper.
“The whole concept of this was not to promote anything but local news and information,” Paul said. “It’s for getting information to the citizens to partake in government. What’s happening, as these newspapers disappear, we’re seeing municipalities create newsletters … and it’s one-sided news.”
Independent media outlets lay out various points of view and information that helps people make informed decisions on local issues – without taking sides, she said.
“I pride myself, I take super steps on being, ‘This is what happens: If you do A, it goes down this plinko hole, and if you do B it goes down this plinko hole,’” Paul said. “True democracy is choice.”
McQuaid is president of the New Hampshire Press Association, which includes newspapers, hyper-local online news outlets such as Manchester Ink Link and some broadcasters that still employ local reporters, he said.
“I appreciate that you guys are looking at anything that can help, because local journalism is crucial,” McQuaid said.
In response to questions about whether the tax credit would skew local news coverage, McQuaid said that most news outlets and reporters “are pretty hard-headed, and they’re not going to change anything they do for anyone.”
However, representatives of the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters said that, while they applauded the spirit of the bill, it would exclude virtually all of their members.
That’s because the primary product of many radio stations is “entertainment” – music – and the rest derive much of their revenue from political candidates and causes, said lobbyist Scott Spradling, a former television reporter.
“Newspapers are fighting for survival, and so, too, are a lot of radio stations,” he said. “What we’re just trying to do is figure out how to make sure the playing field is somewhat level.”
Mark Ericson, secretary and associate director of the broadcaster’s association, said local affiliates of the big radio networks, such as iHeartRadio, would be excluded even if they disseminate local news, as would newspapers such as The Exeter News-Letter, which is owned by Gannett Media.
That’s problematic, he said, because although local affiliates might be part of large media conglomerates, that doesn’t mean the profits trickle down to them.
The subcommittee members had questions about whether the point was to incentivize more local reporting or to focus on the dissemination of local news. For example, would a radio station qualify if they had a local employee “rip and read” news reported by other outlets or wire services?
Paul pleaded with the legislators to keep the bill focused on small, independent outlets, not affiliates of national chains. She compared her business to a local coffee shop that can’t compete for advertising with the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts.
“Not everyone has what these guys have,” Paul said, noting that she does everything from publishing to cleaning toilets to trying to sell ads.
“I’m struggling to survive every day. They have full-blown sales departments. … Can they hit more businesses than I can? Yes they can,” she said.
“This (bill) was geared towards local, local, local: Read local, buy local, spend local, give local,” she said. “That is what this bill is about, and I’m afraid that with all the minutiae and the legality, that goal is going to get lost.”