The support American media has always enjoyed from the federal government has been fading for years, compounded by the country’s recent economic problems. According to a report published on Thursday by the University of Southern California (USC), since the time of the founding fathers, the government has given economic breaks and subsidies to media outlets.
In fact, up until about 1970, the U.S. Postal Service subsidized about 75 percent of the mailing costs for newspapers and magazines, roughly $2 billion per year, in today’s dollars. Today’s mailing discounts for publishers’ for their printed news products are down to 11 percent, or $288 million annually.
The study, called “Public Policy and Funding the News,” also found that paid public notices—announcements required by the government that give citizens information about important activities—have also been profitable for media outlets.
Publications ranging from local dailies and weeklies to national newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal make hundreds of millions from public notices. Today, there are proposals pending in 40 states to allow agencies to shift making their announcements on the Web.
David Westphal, one of the authors of the report, is a former Washington editor for McClatchy Newspapers and an executive in residence at the USC Annenberg School of Communications. He says the report is not intended to be a call to action or a set of recommendations, but hopes it will spark discussion.
“In some ways it’s a conversation and in some ways it’s a hope that we can reframe the conversation that is taking place,” said Mr. Westphal, who adds that government support is falling away at “a critical time.”
“We think policymakers should be open to looking for new opportunities,” said Mr. Westphal.
Geoffrey Cowan, university professor and director of the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP), which put out the report, says that government support is how things have been working for generations. This support, however, is now in danger—and something needs to be done about it, says Mr. Cowan.
“The amount of support at every level for the news media by the government is declining, and declining sharply,” said Mr. Cowan during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., broadcast online by USC. “The news media is not getting nearly the level of support it used to from the government.”
He adds that it’s not true that the government and media have always been strictly separated from one another.
“The notion that there is some kind of a ‘state-press wall’ like the state-church wall has never been true, and isn’t true today,” said Mr. Cowan. “There is no state-press wall, and we don’t think there should be.”
But Mark Horvit, executive director of the nonprofit organization Investigative Reporters and Editors, disagrees.
“I don’t think there’s a myth that there’s been a wall between the media and government,” says Mr. Horvit. He cautions that if policymakers in the federal government increase financial support to the media through grants, subsidies, and other means, it could damage the image of media outlets and their product.
“I think we have to be very careful if there is a strong advocacy for more government support,” says Mr. Horvit. “Perception can be very powerful.”
The full report can be found online at http://fundingthenews.org.
In fact, up until about 1970, the U.S. Postal Service subsidized about 75 percent of the mailing costs for newspapers and magazines, roughly $2 billion per year, in today’s dollars. Today’s mailing discounts for publishers’ for their printed news products are down to 11 percent, or $288 million annually.
The study, called “Public Policy and Funding the News,” also found that paid public notices—announcements required by the government that give citizens information about important activities—have also been profitable for media outlets.
Publications ranging from local dailies and weeklies to national newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal make hundreds of millions from public notices. Today, there are proposals pending in 40 states to allow agencies to shift making their announcements on the Web.
David Westphal, one of the authors of the report, is a former Washington editor for McClatchy Newspapers and an executive in residence at the USC Annenberg School of Communications. He says the report is not intended to be a call to action or a set of recommendations, but hopes it will spark discussion.
“In some ways it’s a conversation and in some ways it’s a hope that we can reframe the conversation that is taking place,” said Mr. Westphal, who adds that government support is falling away at “a critical time.”
“We think policymakers should be open to looking for new opportunities,” said Mr. Westphal.
Geoffrey Cowan, university professor and director of the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP), which put out the report, says that government support is how things have been working for generations. This support, however, is now in danger—and something needs to be done about it, says Mr. Cowan.
“The amount of support at every level for the news media by the government is declining, and declining sharply,” said Mr. Cowan during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., broadcast online by USC. “The news media is not getting nearly the level of support it used to from the government.”
He adds that it’s not true that the government and media have always been strictly separated from one another.
“The notion that there is some kind of a ‘state-press wall’ like the state-church wall has never been true, and isn’t true today,” said Mr. Cowan. “There is no state-press wall, and we don’t think there should be.”
But Mark Horvit, executive director of the nonprofit organization Investigative Reporters and Editors, disagrees.
“I don’t think there’s a myth that there’s been a wall between the media and government,” says Mr. Horvit. He cautions that if policymakers in the federal government increase financial support to the media through grants, subsidies, and other means, it could damage the image of media outlets and their product.
“I think we have to be very careful if there is a strong advocacy for more government support,” says Mr. Horvit. “Perception can be very powerful.”
The full report can be found online at http://fundingthenews.org.
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