(The following is a letter that was sent on March 19 from Tonda Rush of the National Newspaper Association to members of Congress regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.)
Dear members of Congress,
We are very concerned about losing a lot of small newspapers during the pandemic. The advertising is being canceled right and left as the quarantines set in.
Your office was a huge help to us during the newsprint tariff battle, which we won, but not before damage was inflicted. In rural states, we are getting cries for help daily.
Below is a short list of things that would help. We are happy to help with language if any of this looks do-able. For example on the postage front, Title 39 already tags newspapers that were authorized postage privileges under former section 4358(a) and (c). It is easy to reference them without getting into thorny constitutional issues.
Anything you could do would be most gratefully received.
Tonda Rush
National Newspaper Association
Congressional actions that would help community newspapers
Smaller newspapers, particularly in rural areas, were struggling to hang on before the coronavirus. The 2018 impact of newsprint tariffs on printing bills and the general decline of business in rural America have already weakened the bottom line significantly. Yet there are several thousand smaller papers hanging tight to their missions.
Now, with the pandemic quarantines affecting every part of their communities, advertising is being canceled at an alarming pace. But the smaller communities need their newspapers more than ever right now.
There are a number of things Congress could do to help these newspapers stay afloat right now.
- Cash flow is critical. Mandating paid public service ads through health agencies directed to newspapers with circulations of 15,000 or less would help the most.
- Mandating federal public notices in community papers in communities under 50,000 would also help. The Labor Department, for example, recently canceled the ads to local labor in the H1A program. The FCC canceled ads for broadcast license renewals. Hosts of EPA notices have been shifted to federal or state websites over the past decade, where they are obscured from readers. The National Association of County Officials Reversing this trend and restoring these notices for the next few years would help with both cash flow and transparency problems.
- Free postage would also help and unleashing the rules to permit more copies to be sent to nonsubscribers would also help. Within County newspapers cost USPS less than $60 million a year. Allowing an off-setting tax credit would be one way to provide a benefit, but an outright mandate could also help. Newspapers are also restricted from sending to nonsubscribers more than 10% of their annual volume each year. Congress could suspend that requirement for a period, to permit newspapers to get the word out more broadly—and help local businesses reach readers with their advertising.
- The paid sick leave provision in HR 6201 is a concern for some newspapers, although many already provide such leave. In the smallest towns, however, the payroll tax reimbursement will be too small to permit them to recoup. Mandating waivers for smaller newspapers that are the primary news organizations in their towns could help them. Most newspapers are doing what they can to enable telework for those needing FMLA leave.
For more information contact National Newspaper Association’s Washington Office, tonda@nna.org.
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