{"id":7108,"date":"2025-06-01T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T00:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7108"},"modified":"2025-05-27T23:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T23:54:25","slug":"oregon-bill-threatens-the-future-of-black-owned-newspapers-and-community-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7108","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Bill Threatens the Future of Black-Owned Newspapers and Community Journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis<\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

For decades, The Skanner newspaper in Portland, the Portland Observer and the Portland Medium have served Portland, Oregon\u2019s Black community and others with a vital purpose: to inform, uplift and empower. But legislation now moving through the Oregon Legislature threatens these community news institutions \u2014 and others like them.<\/p>\n

As president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), which represents more than 255 Black-owned media outlets across the United States \u2014 including historic publications like The Skanner, Portland Observer and the Portland Medium \u2014 I believe that some Oregon lawmakers would do more harm than good for local journalism and community-owned publications they are hoping to protect.<\/p>\n

Oregon Senate Bill 686 would require large digital platforms such as Google and Meta to pay for linking to news content. The goal is to bring desperately needed support to local newsrooms. However, the approach, while well-intentioned, puts smaller, community-based publications at a future severe financial risk.<\/p>\n

We need to ask \u2014 will these payments paid by tech companies benefit the journalists and outlets that need them most? Nearly half of Oregon\u2019s media outlets are now owned by national conglomerates with no lasting investment in local communities. According to an OPB analysis, Oregon has lost more than 90 news jobs (and counting) in the past five years. These were reporters, editors, and photographers covering school boards, investigating corruption, and telling community stories, until their jobs were cut by out-of-state corporations.<\/p>\n

Legislation that sends money to these national conglomerate owners \u2014 without the right safeguards to protect independent and community-based outlets \u2014 rewards the forces that caused this inequitable crisis in the first place. A just and inclusive policy must guarantee that support flows to the front lines of local journalism and not to the boardrooms of large national media corporations.<\/p>\n

The Black Press exists to fill in the gaps left by larger newsrooms. Our reporters are trusted messengers. Our outlets serve as forums for civic engagement, accountability and cultural pride. We also increasingly rely on our digital platforms to reach our audiences, especially younger generations \u2014 where they are.<\/p>\n

We are fervently asking Oregon lawmakers to take a step back and engage in meaningful dialogue with those most affected: community publishers, small and independent outlets and the readers we serve. The Skanner, The Portland Observer, and The Portland Medium do not have national corporate parents or large investors. And they, like many smaller, community-trusted outlets, rely on traffic from search engines and social media to boost advertising revenue, drive subscriptions, and raise awareness.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s work together to build a better future for Black-owned newspapers and community journalism that is fair, local and representative of all Oregonians.<\/p>\n

Chavis is president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis For decades, The Skanner newspaper in Portland, the Portland Observer and the Portland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-history","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7110,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7108\/revisions\/7110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}