Coffey: Tariffs on printing plates put the future of journalism at risk

Danielle Coffey

Submitted photo

Journalism is in crisis in the U.S., with well-documented and mounting financial challenges that have forced many news publishers to shut down or lay off journalists at an alarming rate.

Now, federal regulators at the U.S. International Trade Commission are making a determination regarding tariffs on the aluminum plates used to print newspapers that could further increase news production costs, threaten journalism and newsroom jobs, and decrease access to reliable information for communities that depend on the print newspaper. 

At a moment when quality journalism has never been more critical to a healthy democracy, we urge the ITC to reject these taxes on newspapers that will further harm the free press.

Publishers use aluminum lithographic printing plates to print newspapers, magazines, books and other materials. Other industries use these plates to print everything from school textbooks to restaurant menus, and packaging for consumer goods to furniture assembly instruction manuals. There is not a sufficient U.S.-based source for the aluminum sheet, which is necessary to make printing plates, so it must be imported from other countries. 

Many newsrooms rely on printing technology that requires violet plates, which are not produced in the U.S., or thermal plates, which are produced in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China.

Prohibitive duties on thermal plate imports from Japan and China would risk newsrooms’ supply chain because the duties would be passed on from suppliers, directly hitting a publisher’s bottom line. Equally concerning is the effect of import duties on limiting access to equipment maintenance, availability of parts, and healthy price negotiation in a fragile industry.

Following the preliminary determination for imposition of the tariffs from the Department of Commerce, news publishers immediately began feeling the effect. On Sept. 12, the ITC held a hearing to decide on these duties.

News outlets are closing at a rate of more than two weekly, and one-third of the newspapers in publication in 2005 will no longer exist by the end of 2024, according to a report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. When newspapers close, it creates news deserts, as entire communities lose access to reliable information. Residents in more than half of U.S. counties have no, or very limited, access to reliable local news, and more than 1,500 counties have seen news options dwindle to a single outlet. Often, once a newspaper closes, it is not replaced, and digital news outlets cannot fill the void in areas that lack broadband internet.

Increased costs and newspaper closures will translate into further job losses in journalism, which has already seen significant cuts. At least 43,000 journalists have been laid off in the U.S. since 2005. Journalists in rural communities have been particularly hard hit. In South Dakota and Alaska, journalists decreased by 66% from 2005 to 2022.

Local news is the lifeblood of our communities, and preserving quality local journalism supports an informed and engaged society. When newspapers close, there is a community-wide negative effect — civic engagement decreases, corruption increases and combating misinformation becomes more difficult, which is particularly critical in an election year. This negative effect is disproportionately borne by vulnerable communities.

A decision by the federal government to impose new tariffs on aluminum printing plates would threaten publishers’ critical news-gathering missions, put American newspaper jobs at risk and lead to additional newspaper closures.

To ensure that there is no disruption to the flow of news and information to the communities that rely on printed newspapers throughout the country and that all Americans have access to reliable news in an age of misinformation, the ITC must reject tariffs on aluminum printing plates.

Editor’s note: Danielle Coffey is president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance. Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.