
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS?
☞ Assembly Bill 5, which took effect January 1, 2020, requires most “independent contractors” to be reclassified as employees.
☞ In recognition of the critical role newspapers play in informing our citizenry, the Legislature granted newspapers a one-year exemption to AB 5 for newspaper carriers.
☞ AB 323, authored by Assemblymember Blanca E. Rubio, will extend California newspapers’ exemption from AB 5 for two additional years in order to help them stabilize operations in the post-COVID environment, and prioritize newspaper outlets for state agency public outreach advertisements.
☞ If forced to comply with AB 5, many community newspapers, including local, ethnic, urban, suburban and metro papers, will be unable to sustain operations. They will close their doors, leaving many communities with no local news source.
☞ For those that continue to exist, news operations will be forced to make deep cuts to both print and digital community coverage and offerings in order to survive.
IF NEWSPAPERS ARE NOT EXEMPTED FROM AB 5, READERS WILL LOSE.
☞ Limited home delivery.
☞ Fewer local news reporters and less hometown coverage.
☞ Loss of sports, comics, games and investigative reporting.
☞ Days of week eliminated from print.
☞ End of the ethnic newspapers that inform California’s diverse population.
☞ Less access to information that matters to our community.
☞ The voice of a free media, a cherished institution enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
For more information on how you can help contact Brittney Barsotti at 916-288-6006 or brittney@cnpa.com.