| Friend,
I’m writing to you today because you have a history of taking action with us and fighting to improve life in California. Could you help us urge California lawmakers to find a real solution to the state’s worsening local-journalism crisis?
Over the course of nearly two decades, California has lost 25 percent of its newspapers, with more than 50 percent of its total news circulation declining or disappearing.1
Urgent intervention is required, because the market has not — and will not — right the ship on its own. Free Press Action deeply believes in good public policy to support local journalism, which is why we’re deeply disappointed to see lawmakers supporting the irreparably flawed California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA).
To quickly recap, this bill’s title makes a promise that its text isn’t keeping. The CJPA would harm the local-news ecosystem by rewarding large media outlets owned by corporations like Gannett and hedge funds like Alden Global Capital. Instead of prioritizing the information needs of California residents like you, the bill would promote clickbait.
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the California Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an informational hearing on the local-news landscape.2 We’re working with other advocates across the state to send a clear message: California needs policy solutions that directly address community-information needs, not ones that largely benefit corporate chains and hedge funds.
This hearing represents an invaluable opportunity to tell lawmakers what Californians need for a healthy media system — and what they don’t. Could you attend and speak during the public comment period? Under the CJPA, locally focused independent, nonprofit and ethnic media outlets would be cast aside in favor of the very conglomerates that have created this news crisis. These smaller outlets have stepped up to plug information gaps, connect underserved communities, and chart a new way forward for journalism in California — they deserve public policy that rewards that critical work, not a bill that would put it out of business.
And don’t worry, even if you can’t make it, signing our petition is still a valuable way of getting your name and opinion in front of policymakers.
Thank you so much for your help,
Alex and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
P.S. Our research offers promising alternatives that would ease the state's civic-information crisis without succumbing to the financial, political and ethical risks of the CJPA.
1. “The Expanding News Desert,” UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media 2. “2023-24 Informational/Oversight Hearings,” California Senate Judiciary Committee  |
