If you look, there are opportunities for newspapers to grow advertising revenue in some categories – not in spite of the COVID-19 health crisis, but because of it. Even as things begin to open up, various businesses can take advantage of projects and to-do lists developed as people spent more and more time at home.
It’s long been known that a journalist’s job can have a massive impact on his or her mental and emotional well-being. Acting as a conduit for stories of tragedy and trauma is no easy feat, and numerous studies have found that journalists – whether covering everyday events or massive tragedies – may experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
As part of our News Impact Project, we are compiling a list of local news stories from around the country on the COVID-19 health crisis that have made a positive impact on their local communities, through motivating changes that help make the community safer, allowing community members to engage on important issues, and providing community members with important information they need to know to keep themselves and their families safe and well.
The Alliance has been working over the last six weeks to enhance the ability of newspapers to get recognition and relief during the COVID-19 pandemic – making sure that newspapers are recognized as “essential” businesses; fighting restrictions that would have excluded certain newspapers under the original CARES Act; and advocating for a delay in pension payments. We have continued to work over the last couple of weeks to expand the SBA loan program to more newspaper companies and to encourage the federal government to immediately direct current spending on advertising to local media outlets.
