California Enacts Landmark Legislation to Strengthen Ethnic, Community Media with State Ad Spending

California has enacted an important new policy that could direct more government advertising toward ethnic and community news outlets – a major victory for the groups that have led the charge, namely the Latino Media Collaborative, California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services.

The California legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has now signed AB1511, sponsored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), which requires state agencies to “develop a plan for increasing expenditures directed to ethnic and community media outlets.”

The bill was part of the recent deal between Google, Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) to help local news outlets in the state. An earlier version of AB1511 would have required a fixed percentage of spending to go to ethnic and community media, but this version instead focuses on the development of the plan and transparency in how state dollars are spent.

The leadership and advocacy of Latino Media Collaborative, along with the staunch advocacy of California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services were critical for passage of this important policy. Rebuild Local News has advocated for greater transparency in government advertising spending and argued that local news outlets should be prioritized in public advertising campaigns whenever possible. It recently issued a model bill for state legislatures to require the disclosure of advertising spending.

In a statement, Latino Media Collaborative President Arturo Carmona said:

“California’s ethnic and community media are essential to keeping our diverse populations informed through independent journalism… This law ensures that state advertising investments will go where they are needed most, creating an economic lifeline for these media outlets while also connecting more Californians to critical state programs. This is an important first step in addressing the long-standing gaps in advertising equity, but more must be done to ensure the survival of these outlets.”

Rebuild Local News President Steven Waldman commented:

“We thank the media groups that drove this forward, Assemblymember Santiago for his continued leadership on this issue, and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks for elevating it in her discussions with the Governor’s office. 

This is money the government is spending anyway–it makes great sense to direct more of it to ethnic and community news outlets rather than defaulting to national media or social platforms. Too often, government agencies choose larger media outlets or social media simply because it’s easier, not because it’s more effective. While agencies need the flexibility to ensure their campaigns reach the right audiences, they should also make a concerted effort not to overlook or underfund community media.

As the state implements these plans, we hope to see dollars flow to a broad range of community news outlets, which are often essential sources of information in their communities. These newsrooms play a critical role in keeping their communities informed and engaged–particularly in reaching underserved groups, including rural and elderly residents the bill was designed to help.”

The bill offers specific examples of ethnic media and defines community media as “a nonprofit organization, small business, or microbusiness… in which at least one-half of the content is originally produced community news and cultural content of specific interest to a community, city, neighborhood, or region in the state through broadcast, print, or digital means, including television, radio, or online outlets on a daily, weekly, or other regular interval, and that has continuously produced that content for at least one year.”

Local media groups have been carefully advocating for this bill for several years. In a recent press release, California Black Media Executive Director Regina Brown Wilson stated:

“As an advocate for independent, local, and Black news outlets, I applaud the State Legislature and the Governor for recognizing that our publications have an indispensable role in the communication infrastructure of our great state.”

Ethnic Media Services Executive Director Sandy Close added:

“By signing Asm. Santiago’s AB 1511, Governor Newsom supports a long-overdue policy that California, as the epicenter of ethnic media in the country, must ensure that all public information and engagement should reach the state’s diverse and underserved communities in coordination with their trusted messengers.”

Rebuild Local News has done extensive research on alternative ways of implementing such a plan, and has created a “model bill” for states. A key to making this approach successful is to design and implement a policy that is inclusive, transparent, and independently monitored. Other cities and states have taken similar measures to support community and ethnic newsrooms, including in New York City and Chicago, as well as statewide efforts introduced in Colorado and Connecticut.

A statewide policy supporting community and ethnic news should:

• • Include outlets across media platforms and business models – from print to podcasts to websites to broadcasts – without favoring one kind of platform. Defining qualified outlets should target the benefit broadly to organizations that produce original, independent news and information using the labor of locally employed journalists and support staff.
  • Allow the government to easily and efficiently place ads in multiple outlets.
  • Be monitored by a third-party watchdog that maintains a list of eligible news outlets, hears appeals, bridges agency ad buyers and local news organizations, educates local news outlets, advocates for the value of this policy with government agencies, and releases government advertising data annually. This policy should not create substantial labor for government agency staff.