• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 25, 2024

Journalism advocates in New York State are quietly savoring the victory achieved last week in the legislature. 

New York became the first state to union to give news outlets a tax break for hiring reporters. 

“As part of the state budget, eligible news outlets in New York could receive up to $300,000 in refundable tax credits for employees’ salaries,” writes Caitlin Vogus deputy director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Vogus adds that the legislation “also splits the available tax credits between larger media outlets and those with 100 employees or fewer, ensuring that smaller news outlets have a chance to benefit.”

Vogus contends that “mass layoffs of journalists and shuttering of news organizations have led some to ask whether journalism is headed toward an “extinction-level event.”

But states are trying to address it, and Vogus argues that the New York law should be a model for other states. 

Here’s more good news: “The federal Community News and Small Business Support Act, introduced in this Congress, would not only give a payroll tax credit to local news outlets that employ reporters in their communities but also provide tax credits to small businesses that advertise in local media,” Vogus continues. 

In the end, “An employment credit places the incentives in the right place: hiring of local reporters,” says Steven Waldman, the president of the Rebuild Local News coalition, according to Vogus.