Washington state Sen. Rebecca Saldaña didn’t grow up with newspapers or work in media, like some of her colleagues.
But the Seattle Democrat has become an ardent supporter of local journalism.
Saldaña said she didn’t care for politics, either, but she’s come to appreciate its importance after a career in community organizing and nearly a decade in the state Senate.
That realization comes “as you get involved in seeing the value of democracy and how it really requires all of us to engage if we want it to be better — it won’t happen on its own,” she said. “And then, in that, I have really seen the importance of newspapers.”
“We rely on newspapers and journalists to help people have access to their democracy, understand what’s happening,” she said.
Saldaña is now playing a key role supporting Senate Bill 5400, which would help newspapers get compensated by tech giants. She helped secure a Ways & Means Committee hearing on the bill last Thursday, which it needed to progress.
That follows Saldaña’s work last year to pass SB 5400 out of the Labor & Commerce Committee she chairs. It advanced after more than 400 people signed up to testify in support, and around 80 to oppose, during a hearing.
Whether and how the state can help sustain the local news industry remains an issue people care deeply about.
SB 5400 also triggered strong pushback from the tech lobby and others. It would collect around $27 million yearly from large social-media and search companies profiting from news. Proceeds would be distributed to news outlets based on the number of journalists they employ, providing a form of compensation for their work online.
As of Thursday afternoon, 1,816 people signed up to testify for or against SB 5400 even though there was only time allotted for about 10 to speak, mostly in support, before the Ways & Means Committee.
“It does have a lot of momentum and support,” Saldaña said before the hearing. “So hopefully all of that can drown out, you know, the three or four big companies that have concerns with it right now.”
Saldaña said she’s heard directly from small Spanish language news outlets seeking support as they work to start and grow their businesses in a challenging market.
One is Latino Herald, a startup created by veterans of Univision after the broadcaster closed a Washington affiliate in 2023.
Marines Scaramazza and José Luis González produce the Herald from a studio in their Lynnwood backyard. It’s online only but they hope to add a print edition eventually.
They aim to produce a statewide report and cover stories in places like Yakima and Tri-Cities. But they mostly focus on Snohomish, Pierce and King counties.
Scaramazza said they have been talking to Saldaña for two years about SB 5400 and how it could support an outlet like the Herald.
An amendment proposed by Saldaña would accommodate sole proprietors, including not just the Herald but longstanding newspapers down to just an editor in the newsroom.
In the Herald’s case, González is a full-time journalist, working as editor and co-owner.
The underlying premise of SB 5400 is that certain tech companies should be compensating outlets producing journalism that benefits their search and social-media platforms.
It’s not a discretionary grant program. Eligibility rightly requires outlets to permanently employ journalists in or near their coverage area, regularly produce material and have an editorial process for correcting errors. That incentivizes job creation and supports professional operations.
The goal is to help news businesses get paid so they retain and create more full-time jobs. That could help the Herald grow enough to hire staff or enable Scaramazza to work full-time as general manager.
I see this being similar to workforce development initiatives, or state programs that helped other essential industries get through a rough patch.
“I think that’s why it went into my policy committee first was, looking at it from a jobs perspective,” Saldaña said. “How do we create opportunities for people to have meaningful work? And it’s very meaningful work. Being able to pay the rent still matters when you’re a journalist.”
Saldaña has advocated for workers through much of her career. The daughter of a Georgetown machinist and former farmworker, she worked for several unions and led progressive advocacy nonprofit Puget Sound Sage before getting appointed in 2016 to fill the seat U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal vacated when she was elected to Congress.
When I floated my comparison to other industry and workforce programs, Saldaña said the Legislature is broadly working to create a “clean-fueled economy.”
“It’s bumpy,” she said, pointing to how employment must be sustained in other trades going through transitions.
For example, the building trades may be using modern, new materials and driving either electric or gas vehicles, she said, but “you still have to build, you still have to maintain, and those are all jobs.”
“How do we help industry, really core industries, make those transitions in a way that disruption is going to be there but it shouldn’t be so disastrous?” she said.
Saldaña also wants the press survive its disruption because it’s so useful.
“There’s so many things happening all the time, such a large government, that as a citizen legislator, I depend on it to be able to know what’s happening,” she said.
“It’s so important, now more than ever, for people to have credible information,” she continued. “I get to meet journalists and see how hard their job is and really believe it’s a fundamental pillar for democracy.”
Amen, and thank you Sen. Saldaña and everyone else who showed up last week to help support local journalism in Washington.
