NEW YORK — Elected officials and the Empire State Local News Coalition, a statewide advocacy group of more than 150 local news outlets, rallied at the New York State Capitol on Wednesday in support of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.

The “industry-saving bill,” sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Carrie Woerner, provides tax credits to local news outlets for the employment of local news journalists. Elected officials in attendance included Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Sen. Monica Martinez, Assemblymember Michaelle Solages and Assemblymember David Weprin. Last week, the state Senate included the bill in its One House budget resolution, a major sign of the bill’s growing support in the legislature.

Lawmakers have less than two weeks until the April 1 deadline to enact the 2025 state budget. Wednesday’s rally signaled growing pressure on lawmakers to offer a lifeline to the local news industry, which has experienced a significant downturn over the past two decades. New York state has experienced a 50% decrease in the number of newspapers since 2004, resulting in thousands of lost jobs and stories. There is a growing number of communities with little to no access to local newspaper coverage: 13 New York counties are down to just one newspaper and Orleans County is the first with no local newspaper at all.

“It’s been said that democracy dies in darkness,” Hoylman-Sigal said. “A thriving local news industry is vital to the health of our democracy, so I’m proud that our Local Journalism Sustainability Act (S.625C) is in the Senate’s one house budget and I’m hopeful that through it we can establish a payroll tax credit to help keep our community news outlets afloat.”

Capped at $20 million statewide, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is a bipartisan bill that provides payroll tax credits for the employment of local news journalists. News organizations would receive a 50% refundable tax credit against the first $50,000 of each newsroom employee’s salary, up to $200,000 per outlet. This benefit would be limited to print and online newspapers and broadcasters with 100 employees or less and that cover local community news ensuring that truly local news outlets will receive this assistance. This bill will be crucial for incentivizing job creation, returning reporters to many of the state’s newsrooms that are becoming increasingly desolate.

“Healthy local news outlets are essential as our communities navigate uncertain political and economic times. We cannot have New Yorkers in small towns across the state left in the dark about what is happening in their local governments, schools and among their neighbors,” said Cameron Nutting Williams, chief revenue officer at The Ogden Newspapers Inc., which owns the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and the Lake Placid News. “Real information, gathered and synthesized by local reporters, is the best antidote to the swirl of misinformation and partisan backbiting that dominates online discourse.”

“The fight to save local news is a fight to save our democracy,” said Zachary Richner, founder of the Empire State Local News Coalition. “Hometown papers deliver the hyperlocal updates and investigations necessary to sustain a community’s civic and financial well-being. As local news declines, critical stories are lost and communities become more polarized. We’re proud to have the Senate’s support and we call on Governor Hochul and the Assembly to support this industry-saving bill and protect critical newsroom jobs.”

“This proposal, if approved, could be a game changer for small and medium size news organizations, many of which are struggling to pay bills, keep valued employees and grow. We’re not asking for a bail out, just meaningful tax relief,” said Terry Tuthill, president at New York Press Association.

“The Local Journalism Sustainability Act will help ensure citizens continue to have access to important news about what their local government is doing. Democracy places a responsibility on citizens to be informed so they can engage in the electoral process and participate in local government. Without this bill, even more local news organizations will not have the financial resources to provide the essential service of reporting on local government.” said Bill Shumway, editor and publisher at North Country This Week/NorthCountryNow.com.

“The Local Journalism Sustainability Act is crucial to the strength of our reporting efforts in our communities. It is vital as we press on in reporting local news and events for our readers. As the only local and reliable source of news, residents rely on our coverage to stay informed as to the happenings in their own community. This act will give us the ability to gather more information and more in-depth coverage to present to our local people as we have been doing for almost 200 years,” said Michael Bird, publisher at The Post-Journal.