U.S. Sen. Bob Casey joins call to support local journalism amid coronavirus pandemic
Senator joins others in urging financial support for media
A federal lawmaker who represent Berks County is calling for any future stimulus package addressing the economic fallout from the coronavirus to include funding for local journalism, warning that communities across the country risk losing a key source of accurate information during the pandemic.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey announced Wednesday that he had joined 19 of his colleagues in writing a letter to Senate leaders.
“The current public health crisis has made the already vital role of local news even more critical,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Some of the most important guidance for families and businesses during this crisis has been highly localized.
“Local journalism has been providing communities answers to critical questions, including information on where to get locally tested, hospital capacity, road closures, essential business hours of operation and shelter-in-place orders.”
The letter notes many of the struggles the news industry has felt over the last decade as there has been a steady succession of local outlets closing, reporters being laid off, production schedules cut and resources tightened as the growth of technology platforms has concentrated critical advertising revenue in the hands of a few.
But they said the current crisis has made this problem worse.
“As many communities have shut down ... local papers and local broadcasters have lost even more of the advertising revenue they rely on from businesses,” they wrote in the letter. “Communities across the country have seen the further decimation of this important industry as local publications have stopped printing and laid off staff in the last few weeks.”
The senators said any future stimulus package must contain funding to support this important industry at such a critical time. They suggested the legislation include a provision that is tailored to benefit aid recipients who make a long-term commitment to high quality local news.