DeGette, others introduce legislation to ‘save local news’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) introduced a resolution today to recognize the vital role that local journalists play in promoting good governance and accountability.
The measure was introduced as part of an ongoing effort by DeGette and other members of a working group formed to protect and promote local news outlets across the country. In addition to calling for the preservation of local journalism, the resolution seeks to raise awareness about a troubling trend of disappearing local news coverage across America.
"Maintaining a truly free and independent press is vital to our democracy," DeGette said. "We, as a society, rely on members of the press to be our watch dogs - to sound the alarms and hold our government leaders accountable when necessary."
DeGette, DeSaulnier, Lofgren and Raskin all took to the House floor Tuesday to urge their colleagues to support passage of the resolution and to further raise awareness of the need to protect local news outlets across the country.
"We often talk in Congress about the fox guarding the henhouse, but in this case too many small and rural communities across the country have no one guarding them at all," DeGette said. "At the end of the day – for the sake of our Democracy – we need our local newspapers, we need our local reporters, we need our watch dogs doing what they do best. We need to find ways to protect our local news outlets and help them thrive."
A copy of the resolution is available here.
Following is a transcript of DeGette's remarks on the House floor, as prepared for delivery, and here's a link to watch video of her speech: https://youtu.be/XFv5v28-AZg
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette
Remarks on the House Floor (as prepared for deliver)
April 2, 2019
Thank you Mr. Speaker,
I would like to thank Mr. DeSaulnier for bringing us together to highlight a very concerning trend that's taking place in our society – as more and more local news organizations in our communities are shutting down or becoming non-existent.
Maintaining a truly free and independent press is vital to our democracy.
In fact, it was Thomas Jefferson who said, "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
We, as a society, rely on members of the press to be our watch dogs. To sound the alarms and hold our government leaders accountable when necessary.
According to a study from the University of North Carolina, over the last 15 years, the newspaper industry has seen over 1,800 mergers or closures of print newspapers.
That's a staggering 20% of all newspapers in the country that have now closed since 2004.
In my homes state of Colorado, we have three counties - Costilla County, Baca County, and Cheyenne County – that have no daily or weekly papers at all.
And in my hometown of Denver, where we have seen an explosive population growth, is now down to only one major daily newspaper, the Denver Post.
Our other daily newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, published its last issue in 2009, two months shy of what would have been its 150th anniversary.
Yet, while it may have outlived the competition and now serves as our cities only remaining daily paper, the Denver Post, too, has faced its fair share of hardships in recent years.
In 2013 the Post had over 250 employees, today that number is less than 100.
On April 8, 2018, in response to another round of devastating layoffs at the paper, the Denver Post's editorial board published an op-ed entitled "As vultures circle, The Denver Post must be saved".
In that op-ed, the editorial board wrote:
"The smart money is that in a few years The Denver Post will be rotting bones. And a major city in an important political region will find itself without a newspaper."
These are not my words, these are the words of the Post's employees.
This massive decline in the number of reporters covering our local communities, is not just happening in Denver – it's happening all over the country.
And it's threatening to have real tangible impacts on our communities.
Nationwide, the number of full-time reporters covering our state Legislatures is down 35% from 2003.
While the reporters who remain continue to provide an invaluable service to our communities, they can't do it all and, as a result, certain stories will not simply go unreported.
A joint study by the University of Notre Dame and University of Illinois at Chicago found a connection between local newspaper closures and increased interest rates on local bonds.
In fact, the study found that the closure of a local newspaper results in local taxpayers paying an extra $650,000 in interest per loan.
That is $650,000 in local tax payer dollars that could otherwise go to schools, police, firefighters, potholes, or any host of other local needs – all lost simply because they didn't have a local newspapers watching over their local government.
We often talk in Congress about the fox guarding the henhouse, but in this case too many small and rural communities across the country have no one guarding at all.
At the end of the day – for the sake of our Democracy – we need our local newspapers, we need our local reporters, we need our watch dogs doing what they do best.
We need to find ways to protect our local news outlets and help them thrive.
And, again, I applaud Mr. DeSaulnier for highlighting this pressing issue affecting our communities and for having us all here to discuss this important matter this evening.
I yield back.