Relief bill has more forgivable loans for community news media, expanded to include those owned by big chains

The new pandemic relief bill has more forgivable loans for local newspapers and broadcast stations -- a first round for those owned by large chains, and a second round for those that lost more than 25% of revenues in any quarter of 2020, compared to the same quarter of 2019, with a limit of $2 million.

Newspapers owned by large groups were not eligible for Paycheck Protection Program loans in the relief bill passed in the spring, which was for companies with fewer than 500 employees. The new bill's limits are 500 employees per location and $10 million per corporation, as long as news outlets certify funds will be used for production or distribution of locally focused or emergency information.

The bill addresses all requests the National Newspaper Association made to Congress in the latter half of 2020, NNA said in a release. NNA Chair Brett Wesner of Cordell, Okla., said NNA had hoped the second round of loans "would reach more businesses and to enable greater loan packages."

“Most of our requests were included in some way,” Wessner said. “What’s more, we learn again and again that members of Congress value the contributions of our newspapers to local communities. We take the recognition of our requests as an encouraging indication that Congress wants to see local newspapers survive and thrive as we get through this painful coronavirus disaster.”