New Mexico's efforts to sustain and save its news publications is the focus of a column from the Seattle Times.

"Other states making progress on saving local journalism." is reprinted here with permission of the Seattle Times:

Other states making progress on saving local journalism

Feb. 26, 2026 If New Mexico's governor signs new legislation, it will give local newspapers, broadcasters and online outlets tax credits worth up to $15,000 per journalist, writes the columnist.

 By Brier Dudley Seattle Times Free Press editor

New Mexico is poised to become the latest state to save local newsroom jobs through policies approved by its Legislature.

The Land of Enchantment offers another model for states that believe local journalism is essential to their civic health and want to help their news industries survive and grow.

While the vast majority of Americans trust and appreciate local news, only a few states so far have enacted tax credits and other measures to help news outlets survive their current disruption.

National proposals, including a 2021 call for journalism tax credits, stalled in Congress despite bipartisan support. But they provided templates for legislation in New Mexico and other states.

Illinois began providing refundable tax credits to local news outlets in 2025 and New York will provide them in 2026, under a program it finalized this week.

Meanwhile, a journalism-support proposal in Washington is unlikely to pass for the second year in a row. An Oregon proposal failed to advance.

AdvertisingSkip AdIf New Mexico’s governor signs the legislation, it will give local newspapers, broadcasters and online outlets tax credits worth up to $15,000 per journalist.

That will help save newsroom jobs and support hiring more. Republican and Democratic legislators agreed this was worth up to $4 million a year for the credits.

“In this moment where massive corporations seek to absorb and destroy local journalism ecosystems across the nation, New Mexico is stepping up to defend our newsrooms,” Sen. Carrie Hamblen, a former public radio journalist who sponsored the legislation, said via email.

The state also budgeted $3 million in emergency funding to support public broadcasters affected by federal cuts and $200,000 for its pioneering news fellowship program.

Legislators provided another $1 million yearly to support what’s left of New Mexico’s newspaper printing operations.

That policy would provide tax credits of $5,000 to $10,000 per employee at the state’s two remaining presses. A year ago it had four.

Driving home the need for support, the Gallup Independent daily newspaper stopped publishing and shuttered its press during the legislative session.

Pat Dorsey, publisher of the Santa Fe New Mexican, said the journalism credits would allow the paper to invest in more investigative and project-based reporting and “expand out into areas that I think are underserved in the state.”

“We talked about it as bridge funding to give us some time, some breathing room, as we all work on our business models to make them more sustainable for the future, and I think that resonated with communities around the state,” he said.

The family-owned daily operates one of the state’s last two presses. Dorsey said production credits would offset rising costs, including effects of tariffs on metal plates.

“This allows us to really absorb some of that because most of our newspapers are on the margins,” he said.

New Mexico’s 42 papers and communities they serve mostly depend on print editions, Dorsey said.

Publishing only online may sound easy in big cities but “we’re a rural state with a lot of small cities and communities,” he said.

“All those places, it’s just not practical for them,” he said. “Right now, the business plans don’t allow for digital-only. Plus we don’t have the best broadband, although it’s getting much better.”

The journalism policies are part of a budget legislators approved before their session ended Feb. 19

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