Members of the Empire State Local News Coalition, a statewide advocacy group of more than 150 local news outlets, rallied with elected officials at the State Capitol Wednesday in support of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.

The industry-saving bill provides tax credits to local news outlets for the employment of local news journalists.

“The fight to save local news is a fight to save our democracy,” said Zachary Richner, founder of the Empire State Local News Coalition.

“Hometown papers deliver the hyperlocal updates and investigations necessary to sustain a community’s civic and financial well-being.”

Bill Shumway, editor and publisher of North Country This Week / NorthCountryNow.com, was among those in attendance. Also on hand from northern and central New York were representatives of newspapers in Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Rome, Schenectady and the Albany area.

A growing number of communities now have little to no access to local newspaper coverage: 13 New York counties are down to just one newspaper and Orleans County is the first with no local newspaper at all.

“Healthy local news outlets are essential as our communities navigate uncertain political and economic times. We cannot have New Yorkers in small towns across the state left in the dark about what is happening in their local governments, schools and among their neighbors,” said Cameron Nutting Williams, chief revenue officer at Ogden Newspapers, owner of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake and the Lake Placid News.

“Real information, gathered and synthesized by local reporters, is the best antidote to the swirl of misinformation and partisan backbiting that dominates online discourse.”

Lawmakers have less than two weeks to enact the fiscal year 2025 state budget. The rally signals growing pressure on lawmakers to offer a lifeline to the local news industry, which has experienced a significant downturn over the past two decades.

Sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is a bipartisan bill capped at $20 million statewide  that provides a 50% refundable tax credit to employers of local journalists against the first $50,000 of each newsroom employee's salary, up to $200,000 per outlet.  The benefit would be limited to print and online newspapers and broadcasters with 100 employees or less that cover local community news.

Other elected officials in attendance at the rally were Assemblymember Carrie Woerner,, who sponsored a similar bill in the Assembly, Sen. Monica Martinez, Assemblymember Michaelle Solages, and Assemblymember David Weprin.

New York State has experienced a 50% decrease in the number of newspapers since 2004, resulting in thousands of lost jobs and stories.

“Democracy dies in darkness. A thriving local news industry is vital to the health of our democracy," said Sen. Hoylman-Sigal. "I’m proud that our Local Journalism Sustainability Act (S.625C) is in the Senate’s one house budget and I’m hopeful that through it we can establish a payroll tax credit to help keep our community news outlets afloat.”

Said Shumway, “The Local Journalism Sustainability Act will help ensure citizens continue to have access to important news about what their local government is doing. Democracy places a responsibility on citizens to be informed so they can engage in the electoral process and participate in local government.”

For more about the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, view a North Country Matters interview with Shumway.

“Supporting the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is not just about saving a vital American industry; it's about preserving the heartbeat of democracy at the community level. By incentivizing the employment of local journalists, this bill empowers communities to stay informed, engaged, and united, countering the detrimental effects of news deserts, polarization, misinformation, disinformation, and polarized, partisan national information silos,” said Adam Stone, publisher at The Examiner News in Westchester County.

Click here to sign a statewide petition in support of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.