The latest COVID-19 legislative package will apparently not include a couple of things that would have helped media outlets facing plunging ad dollars and a public’s increased reliance on critical news and information. A compromise bill was struck Tuesday (April 21) on a $480 billion successor bill to help small businesses. Broadcasters and newspapers, with the help of some legislators, had pushed for the next COVID-19 aid bill to include billions of dollars in federal advertising expenditures-for PSAs or census response campaigns — to be directed specifically to local media outlets.
