Case Study: Successfully Overcoming a Financial Threat to the Newspaper Industry

Challenge

The California News Publishers Association (CNPA), the trade organization representing more than 500 newspapers and online publications, faced a major financial challenge with the passage of legislation (AB 5), a bill that would have required newspaper carriers to be reclassified as employees rather than independent contractors. The reclassification was projected to significantly increase newspapers’ operating costs, causing most publishers to consider major staffing cuts, or closing their doors. For newspapers to survive, CNPA needed the legislature to add newspaper carriers to the list of workers exempt from AB 5.

Strategic Approach

KP refocused public debate on the critical role of local newspapers in California communities to convince California legislators and Governor Newsom to support the exemption. KP organized and implemented a targeted legislative district effort with publishers, business organizations, and community leaders that detailed the existential threat to community and ethnic newspapers, reinforced the value of the newspapers to local residents, and made a persuasive, district-based case for a proposed solution. By effectively delivering these messages on the local level through third parties, media, social media, and digital ads, KP was successful in gaining support from key legislators.

Results + Impacts

Legislation exempting newspaper carriers passed by large margins in both houses of the California Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Newsom. The exemptions provided a critical time period for newspapers to stabilize operations during the transition to digital distribution platforms while continuing to provide customers with home and office delivery. The exemptions were enacted just as COVID ravaged communities in the U.S., and newspapers were able to avoid deep cuts in carrier jobs and reductions in newspaper coverage at a time when access to timely, accurate community news was essential.