The Prevented Planting subsidies were meant to help farmers because, among other reasons, they're an important part of local rural economies. But local newspapers serve their communities too, Anfinson writes, so they deserve a similar subsidy that he dubs the "Prevented Printing" program.
"What we have learned from communities that have lost their newspapers is that fewer people vote," Anfinson writes. "Citizens don’t understand why the school district cut course offerings. They know little about who is running for office. They don’t know why the county is bonding and raising taxes by $30 million. Without a newspaper, the cost of issuing those bonds goes up because investors recognize a greater opportunity for malfeasance. Fewer people run for office. We lose the stories that create a common bond to get things done."
For farmers, the problem was mainly terrible weather. For newspapers, the storm comes from waning advertising dollars. Some of that is because people advertise online, and some of it is because businesses are cutting back on local advertising during the pandemic. Over the past 15 years, more than 2,000 American newspapers shuttered, many of them in small towns. As of early 2020, 198 U.S. counties no longer have a newspaper, Anfinson notes, citing news desert research by the University of North Carolina's Penny Abernathy.
Some plans have been proposed to save newspapers, but thus far, all have targeted large papers. But a prevented printing program can be easily scaled for each newspaper, no matter what its circulation, Anfinson writes. Read more here about the particulars of his idea.
from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/3kWRbWs Rural publisher proposes temporary USDA-type 'prevented printing' subsidy for struggling community papers - Entrepreneur Generations
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