For California journalism students preparing to enter a shrinking job market, the state’s newest effort to support local news offers a possible path to more jobs in the next few years.
On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new bill called the Community Newsroom Employment and Workforce Sustainability Act. The law creates refundable tax credits for qualifying print, digital and broadcast outlets that retain or add local journalists. The credits are set to begin in the 2027 tax year and run through 2031.
“We’ve lost more than 12,000 local journalist jobs since 2002. More than 80% of our local journalists,” said Matt Pearce, director of policy at Rebuild Local News, a nonprofit organization designed to strengthen community news and information. “[This bill] is going to make their lives just a little bit easier and just make it a little bit more possible to continue delivering local news to our communities.”
The law states that newsrooms may claim $20,000 for each of their first five full-time journalists and $15,000 for each additional full-time journalist, if these reporters meet continuous employment requirements. The law also provides $7,500 for qualifying part-time journalists and an additional $15,000 for each new full-time journalism job.
The financial benefit will not reach newsrooms immediately, as outlets will not begin counting eligible employment expenses until January 2027, meaning many publishers will not receive their first refunds until they file taxes in 2028.
Chuck Corra, associate director of policy and advocacy for LION Publishers, said that provision is particularly important for small and midsize independent publications.
“For some publishers that may have been thinking about hiring new journalists, it will give them the confidence to be able to do that because they know that money is going to be coming,” Corra said. “It’ll allow them to plan long-term about hiring and reallocating their finances.”
Pearce said the bill would work alongside programs such as the California Local News Fellowship, a state-based program based at the University of California Berkeley which places 40 early-career journalists in CA newsrooms for two-year, full-time positions. When those fellowships end, host newsrooms may be able to use the new credits to turn some temporary positions into permanent jobs.
“The journalism students that I talk to are really bright,” Pearce said. “They have a lot of great ideas, but the problem is that we have a local news industry that is not really able to receive all this talent and all these great ideas and all this creativity that are coming out of our universities.”
The law does not require an outlet to spend its refund on new hires; outlets may choose to preserve pre-staffed positions..
“The primary component is first holding the line and helping news organizations retain the size of their journalistic staff, but also hopefully to see news organizations expand,” said Gordon Stables, director of schools at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “The essence of the whole legislation is around creating an incentive for news organizations to have more journalists on their payroll.”
More financially stable outlets could send more reporters to cover communities that receive little or inconsistent attention, according to Corra. For example, he said that in agricultural areas across northern and central California, significant local issues often go uncovered because the region lacks journalists.
“They have equally important things happening in their communities and their government, and they may not have the adequate amount of reporters to cover it,” Corra said. “We’re hoping that this bill is going to give financial resources and make them available to local news outlets to be able to fill some of those gaps.”
It remains uncertain how many newsrooms will use the money to expand rather than maintain the current staffing levels, but there is still incentive to grow.
“We’ve had a lot of digital growth of brand new platforms in Southern California over the last year,” Stables said. “They’ve been mostly fueled by private grants, philanthropy and some early venture capital. I think the hope is this legislation makes it easier for these startups to sustain and grow.”
Ken Doctor, founder of Lookout Santa Cruz, a local newspaper that covers news across Santa Cruz County, said his company was planning to launch three additional publications on the West Coast. He said the new bill gives the state an economic advantage as the company considers possible locations in California, Oregon and Washington.
Doctor estimated the credit could cover up to 15% of Lookout Santa Cruz’s budget. More than 70% of the outlet’s expenses are for its staff, he said.
“It basically helps those who help themselves,” Doctor said. “If you’re actually building a business [rather] than cutting, it’s an incentive to do so.”
Pearce said beginning to reverse the cycle of shrinking newsrooms and creating an opportunity for growth could help the industry create more room for the next generation.
“We need growth, and we need innovation, and we need jobs,” Pearce said. “We need creative, talented people who are going to lead us into the future, so it really is about trying to build a foundation for what comes next.”
Edited by Miranda Huang