Newsprint tariff puts papers in peril
Unreasonable decision should be reversed
The viability of local newspapers, including the one that you are reading now, is being challenged by an unnecessary tariff on newsprint from Canada — the paper used to print this newspaper and others across Ohio.
Simply put, Ohio’s newspapers cannot absorb the additional financial burden that this tax — based on a dubious complaint from a single paper mill — is sure to create.
The new import tax begins on Tuesday and will add almost 10 percent to the cost of newsprint for GateHouse Ohio, which publishes The Columbus Dispatch, The Review in Alliance, The TimesGazette in Ashland, The Repository in Canton, The Jeffersonian in Cambridge, The Record-Courier in Kent, The Independent in Massillon, The Times Reporter in New Philadelphia, The Daily Record in Wooster, and 35 weekly newspapers, including ThisWeek Community Newspapers serving suburban Columbus.
The additional cost for newsprint will add up to millions of dollars for this company’s Ohio operations alone.
If fully implemented, the resulting hardship could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs in the newspaper industry at a time when our role of getting real news to you on a daily basis matters more than ever.
A credible news source that has a vested interest in community-based news and information is the bedrock to our principles as a free nation.
Ohio is home to more than 250 local newspapers and hundreds of related websites — many of which provide the only meaningful news coverage in small communities. We live here and work here and care about this place we call home.
We are local businesses. We are Ohio. We are you.
Readers rely on newspapers to provide credible information about what matters most to them — news about local people, local government, local happenings, local businesses and important public notices that can affect a community.
Newspapers and newspaper associations are uniting against newsprint tariffs.
“This decision and its associated duties likely will lead to job losses in U.S. publishing, commercial-printing and paper industries,” said the News Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,000 U.S. news organizations. The Alliance said that the petition by a Washington state paper maker seeking the tariff “does not reflect the views of the domestic paper industry and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the market. The well-documented decline in the U.S. newsprint market is not due to unfair trade, but to a decade-long shift from print to digital distribution of news and information,” the industry group said.
The American Forest & Paper Association, representing U.S. newsprint producers, also opposes the tariff.
This is not only a printindustry concern, but it also could ultimately affect other U.S. businesses that rely on paper products.
Please help protect the future of newspapers by telling the Department of Commerce, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Rob Portman or your U.S. Congress representative that you oppose the proposed newsprint trade tariff.
A free press is more important than ever, and newspapers have always been at the forefront of serving our communities. We remain steadfast in our commitment to doing so. Now we could use your help to ensure that we can continue delivering the news you need.