A Letter to Pelosi from the National Association of Hispanic Publishers

As representatives of more than 80 Latino newspapers, magazines, and websites, we urge you to pass the Local Journalism Sustainability Act as soon as possible.

Local news is in a deep crisis. The number of reporters has dropped by 60% since 2000. Thousands of communities have no local reporting; thousands more have barely anything. And the problems are even worse in lower income communities.

In Latino communities, we are witnessing the dire consequences. Purveyors of misinformation have targeted our residents, flooding us with dangerously wrong information about COVID, elections and other matters. Families do not have the information they need to make decisions for themselves, and communities do not have the accountability reporting that can help them solve their own problems. The only way to fight this bad information is with good information, through trustworthy, local journalism like that provided by our publications.

For decades and in some cases centuries, our publications — and those serving other ethnic communities — have played a crucial role in informing the nation in an accurate and fair manner about the lives of Americans whose stories were not being told in so-called mainstream publications. But these publications are struggling — and it would be a tragedy of historical proportions if, having survived so many obstacles, they were done in by the digital revolution or short-sighted public policies.

We strongly support the Local Journalism Sustainability Act — in part because of its bottom-up approach. Rather than relying only on a government agency to dispense grants — an approach that has not always produced equitable results — it empowers not only publishers but consumers and small businesses to support the media that best serve their needs.

With this kind of approach, communities of color can rejuvenate local news.

Signed, Board of Directors, National Association of Hispanic Publications