House and Senate Letters to the Administration on Directing Government Advertising to Local Media

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74 senators sent a letter to the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget asking him to direct federal agencies to shift existing government advertising campaigns to local newspapers and broadcasters.  The senators stated, “Local newspapers and broadcasters have been particularly hit hard financially due to decreased revenue typically derived from advertising sales. This comes at a time when they have increased coverage of daily news, alerts and educational programs. As congress and the administration continue to work to keep small businesses operating and employees on the payroll through the Paycheck Protection Program, we believe there is an opportunity for the federal government to provide relief to our local newspapers and broadcasters.” 

 The letter, which is attached, was coordinated by Sens. Daines (R-MT), Manchin (D-WV), Barrasso (R-WY) and Peters (D-MI).   The letter comes a few days after more than 240 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter (attached) to President Trump asking that he direct cabinet secretaries to shift more government advertising to local media outlets.   

 We encourage you to call attention to your representatives and senators support for local newspapers. 

 The Alliance appreciates the partnership that we have with the National Newspaper Association, America’s Newspapers and the National Association of Broadcasters to push forward this initiative.  We hope that it will generate interest in a legislative proposal that would result in additional government advertising expenditures for local media outlets as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds.