Is there a problem with the continuing impoverishment of local newspapers? According to a recent news article, published in the Boston Globe, the state legislature in Massachusetts is seriously considering providing a tax credit that would reimburse any Massachusetts resident up to $250 a year for the cost of subscribing to his or her local newspaper.
Now, there's an idea!
From my perspective, I do think that there is a problem with the continuing impoverishment of local newspapers. I am basing my ideas about this topic mainly on what I see happening in Santa Cruz, California, where my hometown newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which was established in 1856, reminds me of a once-healthy person perishing from pneumonia in the days before antibiotics. Every day, as the paper becomes less and less robust, its coverage ever more attenuated, I anticipate the newspaper's final demise.
I haven't studied the proposed legislation in Massachusetts. It's an idea, anyway. There are probably some others, which might focus on preventing the kind of rapacious capitalism that is what is actually a main reason that local newspapers around the country are fading out. Not the only reason, of course, but certainly a reason.
I was attracted to the article I have linked mainly because of the principle it illuminates. IF we are collectively willing to mobilize the financial resources of the nation (meaning, among other things, that we would be willing to tax those who have the money, to acquire the funds that we could then spend, collectively, on projects we determine worthy), then there are really LOTS of potential solutions to problems we think are worth addressing.
Education, health care, housing, and meaningful opportunities to work - and helping out local newspapers. Those are some examples of what I am talking about. Just for instance!
Image Credit:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/07/business/new-bill-mass-legislature-could-subsidize-local-newspaper-subscriptions/
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