Standing Up for Local Newspapers and the Communities They Serve
America's Newspapers leads sustained advocacy at the federal and state levels to protect and strengthen local, family-owned newspapers — keeping reporting jobs local and defending the institutions that hold communities together.
What's at Stake
Local newspapers do work no one else does. When they weaken, the loss isn't only in the news pages — it reaches into how communities govern themselves, stay connected and keep their economies running. This is what advocacy is built to protect.
Accountability
Local newspapers hold public officials accountable and provide reliable reporting that national media can't replicate. When local news weakens, transparency thins, public records go unread, and government oversight quietly fades.
Connection
Newspapers keep residents connected — covering the budgets, school boards and elections that shape daily life, alongside the obituaries, sports and hometown stories that make a community feel like one.
Local Economy
Strong local newspapers strengthen hometown economies. Public notice revenue helps fund reporting jobs, and trusted, local advertising helps small employers reach the customers who keep their doors open.
Informed Voters
Communities served by a strong local newspaper see higher turnout, more contested local races and less corruption. Where coverage disappears, residents are left to vote on the offices closest to them with the least information.
Where We're Fighting
Public Notices
Keeping public notices in independent local newspapers — where the public can actually see them — instead of government-controlled systems that thin out transparency.
Open the briefingEditorials & Opinions
Ready-to-reprint editorials and opinion pieces making the case that you can't rebuild local journalism without local newspapers — free for members to publish.
Read & reprintPrivacy & CIPA
A member advisory on rising litigation under the California Invasion of Privacy Act — covering website tracking technologies, notice and consent, and recommended compliance steps.
Read the advisoryThe Community News & Small Business Support Act
Too many family-owned papers are being stretched thin, and when they weaken, communities lose more than news — they lose connection. This act is a practical, market-based solution focused squarely on local, family-owned newspapers, not national media and not large corporate chains.
It provides temporary, content-neutral tax credits that help community newspapers hire and retain local reporters. In year one, the credit covers up to half of qualified compensation; in following years it steps down but continues to support staffing — keeping reporting jobs local.
Small businesses benefit too. The bill offers a tax credit for Main Street companies that advertise with their local media — up to $5,000 in the first year and up to $2,500 afterward — lowering marketing costs while strengthening the local newspapers they rely on to reach customers.
This is not a subsidy and not a mandate. It's a five-year, tax-code-based incentive that supports two essentials of community life: family-owned newspapers and small businesses. Congress needs to hear that strong local news matters — not as a political talking point, but as a community necessity.