Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility Rabb proposes nonpartisan investments in local journalism, civic information

Rabb proposes nonpartisan investments in local journalism, civic information

Legislation establishing consortium, fellowship to strengthen community news

Rep. Christopher M. Rabb    July 28, 2025 | 2:54 PM

HARRISBURG, July 28 – As corporate consolidation continues to hollow out independent newsrooms across Pennsylvania, state Rep. Chris Rabb is proposing two bills aimed at reversing the collapse of community news and filling critical civic information gaps.

“Local news and civic information are public goods—they deserve public dollars,” said Rabb, D-Phila. “When communities lose access to independent journalism, transparency erodes, civic engagement declines, and government becomes less accountable to the people it serves. The longer we wait to rebuild community newsrooms, the more we jeopardize the civic health of Pennsylvanians.”

Rabb’s two bills would establish new avenues for supporting journalism:

  • The first would create and fund a Pennsylvania Civic Information Consortium, an independent, nonpartisan body to distribute grants to local newsrooms and nonprofit organizations filling critical information gaps in underserved communities. Modeled after New Jersey’s CIC, which has distributed more than $10 million since its creation in 2018, the Pennsylvania CIC would be empowered to raise private philanthropic dollars to expand its impact while preserving editorial independence.
  • The second would establish a state fellowship program for local news, placing early-career journalists in community newsrooms across the state to strengthen reporting capacity where it’s needed most. A similar fellowship program has been successfully piloted in California, New Mexico, and Washington State, placing reporters on the ground in communities that have seen local coverage eliminated over the last two decades. 

Referencing federal cuts to public media and recent data showing 17 counties in Pennsylvania have access to one or zero local news outlets, Rabb said rural, working-class, non-English speaking communities, and communities of color feel the greatest impact from the information gap.

"Reliable local reporting is tied to everything from monitoring public spending at the municipal level to fighting corruption at the highest levels of our government. The data is clear, and so is the need. These two pieces of legislation would make direct investments in the infrastructure of our democracy.”

Rabb said the bills are attracting bipartisan support and he plans to formally introduce them this year.