From the Fall 2021 issue of California PublisherThe year’s end is nearly upon us and, as usual, we have a lot to be grateful for.Despite political tumult, public health crises, natural disasters and disruptions in our industry, our precious journalism remains mostly intact. We may not be putting as many newspapers on porches, but readers by the millions are relying on our combined publishing assets – print and digital – to stay reliably informed about government, big business, and community affairs.CNPA wages a constant effort to substantiate our role in the news ecosystem. It remains true that newspaper journalists create more original content than TV, radio and social mediums combined.One could argue – and we have – that if it weren’t for local newspaper reporters and the publishers who distribute their stories, the lifeblood of democracy might clot and put democracy at peril.
That’s not just a supposition. It is borne out by the record in communities where local papers are no longer in operation. In these “news deserts,” according to studies by researchers at several major universities, taxes tend to be higher, public corruption tends to occur more frequently, elections are uncontested affairs, and citizens go to the polls in fewer numbers. It’s not a pretty picture.We stood up for journalism, free press and public access against quite a few challenges in 2021. There were more than a dozen bills introduced in the California Legislature last year that would have impacted the distribution of public notices by adjudicated newspapers.Others sought to restrict press access to public records and government meetings. One bill would have severely limited public access to records created by medical examiners and coroners, among other things a direct affront to the California Public Records Act. And we had to fight for legislation to prevent police attacks on journalists covering demonstrations, marches, protests and rallies.As problematic as this all seems, no legislative issue was more perilous in 2021 than the prospect of losing the newspaper carrier exemption from AB 5, the law that would have had news publishers reclassifying carriers as employees. Without the exemption, 40 percent of CNPA’s members might have faced closure, with news and information sources drying up for millions of Californians.So with all these attempts to constrain the gathering and distribution of credible news, where does the gratitude come in? Concisely stated, it is a function of journalism and free press winning out over emotion, misinformation and miscalculation.For that, we need to be thankful that CNPA was able to mount an effort in 2021 to win its way on every single bill that concerned our profession and our businesses. As a result, free press and the democracy it compels are “safe” for another year in our state.The winning followed a brilliantly conceived, staff-led legislative affairs strategy that was implemented by the association’s leadership and staff and the group of professional advisors they deployed on CNPA’s behalf.Late in the Fall of 2020, the team came together and devised a plan that ultimately persuaded the Legislature to grant carriers a multi-year exemption from AB 5, the independent contractor law.But that wasn’t the only objective. The team had in mind that it would elevate CNPA’s standing and influence with legislative and executive branch decision makers in Sacramento. That meant introducing – one by one – a new team and a new, more assertive approach to conducting government affairs to preserve local journalism.The outcomes speak for themselves. Indeed, CNPA has rarely mounted a more successful defense of our profession. We will confront challenges in 2022, of course, but it is a relief that AB 5 won’t be one of them.It ought to please us all to know that whatever issues we face in the year ahead, we will do so knowing that among legislative and policy influencers, there is growing respect for the association, its leadership and its members and for the role our profession plays in the health and vitality of California.Speaking for the CNPA Board, it is a great position to be in. We’re grateful to the legislators, the governor and his staff, and our allies for taking the time to listen to our views and act on them.And we are really grateful to the CNPA staff. They helped put us in a place where we can look to the coming year knowing that our voice will be heard and accounted for.CNPA Chairperson Simon Grieve is publisher of Southern California News Group’s weekly Gazette Newspapers in Long Beach, The Beach Reporter in Hermosa Beach and Palos Verdes Peninsula News.
