Davis Co-Sponsors Legislation to Promote Local Journalism

Press Release

U.S. Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL) is co-sponsoring H.R. 3940, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, a bipartisan bill that seeks to support local journalism through a series of three tax credits that promote newspaper subscriptions, advertising, and hiring of local journalists.

"Local newspapers and media outlets are a vital source of information for the public, and they've been hit hard by changing economic conditions, which the pandemic has only made worse," said Davis. "That's why I'm co-sponsoring the Local Journalism Sustainability Act - to promote subscriptions, advertising, and hiring of journalists for local newspapers and media outlets. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to get our bill passed so we can support local journalism."

The Local Journalism Sustainability Act offers a series of three tax credits aimed at supporting local journalism. The first credit works to incentivize annual subscriptions to local papers that primarily produce content related to local news and current events and can also be used for non-profit publications. The second credit is a five-year credit for local newspapers to employ and adequately compensate journalists. The last of the three credits is a five-year tax credit that incentivizes small businesses to advertise with local newspapers, as well as local radio and television stations. You can learn more about the credits here.

The proposed credits in the Local Journalism Sustainability Act will encourage Americans to subscribe to local publications, help those publications retain and compensate journalists, and provide businesses and publications alike with much-needed advertising dollars.

You can find the bill text here. H.R. 3940 was introduced by Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA).

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