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It’s no secret that local news has had a challenging few years. The news industry struggled before COVID-19, but the pandemic made things even tougher. 

The number of journalists has dropped 60% since 2000, and thousands of communities have either no newspaper or ghost newspapers that provide barely any local coverage.

Our own newspaper has reduced its publication days from five to two days a week and has three journalists, while 10 or 15 years ago, that number was almost double.

We at the Tribune are trying to fill these gaps with national targeted digital advertising, curated email advertising, website design and more. But the collapse of the traditional advertising business models has made it far more difficult for us to provide the depth of coverage you deserve.

Less local news coverage of course means less important information for you about matters in this community — schools, clean water, local government, safety — and even less of the good stories that make our community a great place to live.

Local news helps us know each other, and fights against polarization and conspiracy theories. It helps communities stick together and solve their own problems.

If this were a normal industry, we’d have advocated for government intervention a long time ago. But we in the press really don’t like taking money from the government. How can we hold politicians accountable if they’re giving us money?

Fortunately, some members of Congress have come with an extremely clever solution — a series of tax credits that amplifies the power of consumers and businesses. One provision would provide a tax credit to you, the consumer, to purchase a subscription to a local newspaper or make a donation to a nonprofit news organization. A second provision would give a payroll tax credit to news organizations if they maintain or grow the number of journalists. And the third provision would provide a $5,000 tax credit to small businesses here in Albert Lea and across the nation to advertise with local news.

We still need to earn your support. But at least it will increase your buying power if you decide that we’re worthy of your help.

This could be a huge help to us — and therefore to the quality of the news. We know you don’t always agree with what we write or cover, but we’re trying our best to serve the community.

We urge you to encourage federal officials to support the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.

Democracy needs this help.