The News Media Alliance applauds Congress for approving another round of stimulus legislation, and for including an affiliation waiver that will allow previously ineligible news publishers to apply for the Small Business Administration (SBA) PPP loans as individual, independent entities, despite ownership by companies with other small news publishers or non-news businesses, allowing more publishers to qualify for the vital loans.
News Media Alliance President and CEO, David Chavern, stated, “These SBA loans will allow news publishers to continue to bring critical news and information to their local communities, particularly at this time of historic challenges.”
The language is similar to the “Local News and Emergency Information Act of 2020” introduced by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Boozman (R-AR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in the Senate, and by Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) and Ranking Member F. James Sensenbrenner (WI-05) in the House.
The Alliance is extremely grateful to all of the congressional champions, in both the House and the Senate, for their enduring support of high-quality local journalism, and for their leadership in gathering bipartisan support for an SBA affiliation waiver for news publishers.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
