Local Press Politics: Transparency and the lobbying efforts of newspaper associations in the United States

This project examines the lobbying efforts of state and regional print media associations in the United States. The analysis is primarily concerned with two aspects of newspaper association lobbying: the amount of money newspaper associations spend on lobbying efforts and the amount of information about lobbying activities those organizations disclose to the public. Those areas of inquiry are addressed through quantitative and qualitative analyses of press association websites and financial records. Using journalistic understandings of transparency as a foundation, the research considers how newspaper associations characterize their efforts to shape public policy through lobbying, what issues they emphasize as priorities on public websites, and how their online statements about public policy compare to actual money spent lobbying on behalf of newspapers. The study suggests that newspaper associations are not especially transparent about their own involvement in the governmental process. Many associations considered in this study provided little information about the money and time spent lobbying the government to make it easier for reporters to do their job and for newspapers to turn a profit. As advocates for government transparency and important actors in democratic societies themselves, the study ultimately argues, newspapers have a moral obligation to be transparent about such matters.