Wisconsin lawmakers are once again working to save the local news industry. We hope residents make that happen this year.
The latest initiative is a series of bills to support news organizations, subscribers and young journalists.
Rep. Jimmy Anderson modeled it on proposals from Congress and other states. It helps that his first job as a teenager was delivering newspapers.
“I want to strengthen local journalism to fundamentally improve our democracy,” said Anderson, now an attorney and Democratic lawmaker in the Madison suburb of Fitchburg.
“I've always thought that many of the ills facing our democracy today actually stem from an unhealthy media diet,” he said by phone.
While this policy may not be possible, Anderson hopes it will move the conversation about saving journalism forward and potentially provide inspiration to other policymakers.
“I have no illusions that this bill will pass this term, especially this term, but I do think it's an important way to get ideas out into the world,” he said. Areas that may have similar interests. ”
Wisconsin is one of a handful of states attempting to address the crisis in local journalism that leaves more than half of America's counties with no local news outlets or only “ghost'' newspapers that have gone out of business.
The state has lost 37% of its papers since 2004, according to a study by the University of North Carolina and Northwestern University.
In 2021, Republican Reps. Roger Ross and Todd Novak proposed tax credits of up to $5,000 for small businesses that advertise in local media. Novak is a former newspaper editor. His office told me the proposal is still being advanced this year, but as a budget item rather than a standalone bill.
Mr. Anderson said the local paper, the McFarland Thistle, was struggling, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, owned by Mr. Gannett, was filling its pages with “more nationalized stories.”
Anderson introduced the bill in late January with two Democratic colleagues. He supports Novak's proposal and said he is seeking a Republican co-sponsor.
One of Mr. Anderson's proposals would provide households with a tax credit of up to $250 to cover news subscription costs. The deduction would be against Wisconsin income tax.
Federal subscription credits were proposed in the Local Journalism Sustainability Act of 2021. But the current iteration of the bill, the Community News and Small Business Support Act, only provides credit for the work of news editors and local advertising. Bipartisan co-sponsors include two Wisconsin Republicans.
Anderson's second bill would create a “Citizen Information Consortium” with state universities and provide grants. This is similar to a New Jersey consortium founded in 2018 that supports a combination of journalism and nonprofit organizations.
A third proposal would fund a journalism fellowship program similar to those in Washington and California. He needs $25 million to fund 25 positions, each of which he will pay $40,000 over five years.
Washington state budgeted $2.4 million last year for 16 two-year fellowships that pay $55,000 a year. Applications are currently being reviewed and fellowships are expected to begin later this year through Washington State University.
California has earmarked $25 million in 2022 for up to 40 three-year fellowships paying between $60,000 and $65,000. But funding could be cut as the state grapples with its budget deficit, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Jan. 23.
Anderson told reporters on January 30 that the Wisconsin proposal was written to protect journalists' independence, the Cap Times reported.
“The goal is clearly to enable journalists to hold us accountable,” he said in the report.
Federal assistance remains urgently needed. Meanwhile, the people of states like Wisconsin stand to benefit from leadership that recognizes the need for local journalism and seeks to support it before it's too late.
Microsoft AI benefits: Microsoft's laudable efforts to support local journalism are complicated now that it is a leader in artificial intelligence technology that many see as threatening the future of the news industry.
On Monday, the Redmond software giant became the latest AI vendor to announce a partnership with a news organization, highlighting the technology's business utility.
It remains to be seen whether that changes the narrative or prevents further lawsuits beyond the New York Times AI lawsuit alleging copyright infringement by Microsoft and its partner OpenAI.
Noreen Gillespie, director of journalism at Microsoft, said in the announcement that the goal is to “support thriving and sustainable newsrooms with the technology they need to perform their critical function of informing the world. ” he said.
Microsoft's partners include one news organization, Semafor, a startup that is working with Microsoft on an effort to use AI tools to aggregate news reported by other news organizations.
Microsoft is sponsoring a three-month program at the State University of New York Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism for journalists to “explore ways to incorporate generative AI into their work and newsrooms.”
Microsoft also supports the Online News Association's “programs to support journalists and newsroom leaders as they navigate the evolving AI ecosystem,” as well as the nonprofit The GroundTruth Project, which supports Report for America's temporary reporting program. We support this.
Additionally, Microsoft is working with Nota, a startup that develops AI tools for newsrooms.
“A healthy news organization cannot exist without journalists who know their communities and topics, have deep relationships with government and civic life leaders, and understand how to reach their communities,” Gillespie said in a statement. said. “This work is challenging, and our goal is to find ways to support journalists in this mission, not to replace them.”
Good for you. Microsoft must have learned this the hard way after experiencing some serious glitches with the company's MSN News portal last year.
CNN said in November that “Microsoft's decision to increasingly rely on automation and the use of artificial intelligence, rather than human editors, to edit its homepage is behind the site's recent amplification of false and bizarre stories.'' It seems so.''
