By Bron Maher, PressGazette, May 10
A bill reintroduced to the US House of Representatives seeks to make it easier for news organisations to register as nonprofits, as well as to exempt them from paying tax on ad revenue.
Introduced in February by Democratic lawmakers Mark DeSaulnier, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Jamie Raskin, the “Saving Local News Act” would explicitly make the “publication of written news articles” a tax-exempt purpose.
The bill stalled in Congress last time it was introduced in 2021, which DeSaulnier attributed in part to frostiness between some politicians and the press.
The reintroduction of the Saving Local News Act was welcomed by press freedom organisation PEN America and the Newsguild journalists’ union, with the president of the latter saying: “We must fight against the loss of more local news outlets, which threatens our democracy. Supporting more non-profit local news organisations that will put quality reporting and good jobs in journalism above profits is an important step in doing that work.”
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